When You Come Back
by IantojJackh
Summary: Sequel to Return to Pegasus- Set 7 years after the events of RtP.
1. Chapter 1

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis

**Please leave reviews. They are always welcome.**

* * *

**Chapter 1- Problem Child**

_"Rodney, we need to get out of here," John yelled, trying to pull his friend from the fireball that engulfed the building in front of them._

_Rodney was pulling as hard as he could to get out of Sheppard's grasp, "No, I have to go back." He was almost free when another set of hands pulled him further away. "I've got to find her." On a normal day John, himself would have had no problem keeping McKay back, but now both John and Ronon were fighting to hold him from breaking free._

_"There is nothing we can do," Ronon was careful not to grasp too tightly around Rodney's broken left wrist._

_"Don't say that." McKay hissed. He finally escaped the tight hold of his friends and raced toward the burning outpost. He could not get within five feet of the fire as the intense heat from the blaze caused him to stumble back. There was no way he could go any further and he collapsed to his knees, yelling in agony and despair. _

_John looked as he heard a beep from the radiation detector on his belt, "Now we really got to get out of here." He tried to pulled Rodney up, but the man would not budge._

_Rodney could feel John pulling at him, but he did not care. "Leave me here. She can still make it out."_

_"We are not leaving you. It's not safe. Jennifer could not have survived that explosion." Ronon stated. _

_The Canadian looked at the Satedan with hatred in his eyes. "Don't you say that." Rodney got up again to make his way back to the outpost despite the heat. _

_John looked over at Ronon and shook his head. He did not know what to say to his friend as he was in shock too. "McKay, the radiation levels are rising. If we don't get out of here soon we all are going to be dead."_

_Rodney shook his head, "Then just leave me here. There is still a chance." He refused to believe his wife was dead._

_Sheppard screamed, "Rodney, we are not leaving you here. We've got to go. Don't let your children loose both their parents today." _

_McKay turned to John and slowly started to get up. He knew know was right, "Abigail's birthday is in three days." Everything around him was spinning and he was not sure if he had a concussion or if it was the shock from watching the love of his life die._

_Ronon took Rodney by the arm, "That's right. You wouldn't want to miss it and Christmas is in two days. Zoe's first Christmas." He looked to John for help as Rodney passed out in his arms._

_When Rodney finally regained consciousness he knew was in Atlantis' infirmary. He wondered if it all had been a dream, but he saw the cast of his left arm and knew it wasn't. He also wasn't alone in the bed. A set of brown eyes looked up at him and smiled. "Abigail," he smiled back at the girl curled up on his right side._

_"Daddy no sleep," the girl ordered of her father._

_McKay looked over and saw his son, Arthur, sleeping at the foot of the bed and turning his head to the left; Rodney saw John sleeping in a chair next to the bed._

_John started to stir when he heard Rodney was awake, "Hey."_

_"Hey."_

_"How are you feeling?"_

_"My arm is killing me. How long was I out for?" The injured man asked._

_"About a day and a half. I think Carson went a little overboard on the sedatives," Sheppard explained. Rodney had been agitated when Beckett had tried to set his broken wrist and he had to be sedated so he wouldn't hurt himself or any of the medical staff. _

_"It wasn't a dream? She really gone?" Rodney's face showed no emotion. Whatever drugs Carson had given him had numbed the emotional pain he knew he should be feeling, but it was not doing much for the physical pain._

_John nodded, "I'm sorry. We tried to go back, but the radiation levels are still too high." John reached into his shirt pocket. "I thought you would want this back," he handed Rodney his wedding band. "They had to take it off to set your wrist."_

_"Thank you," Rodney closed his hand around the ring. "Where's Zoe?" The man asked of his youngest child. _

_"Teyla has her. These two refused to leave you and both threw quite the tantrum when I tried to get them to leave." Sheppard looked between Arthur, who was still sleeping and Abigail who had her arms wrapped around her father's good arm._

_"No leave daddy." Abigail made a face at John. She was mad at her 'uncle' for trying to make her leave. "Mean. Bad," the girl scowled and pointed at Sheppard._

* * *

Rodney woke up with a start and stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom, taking a moment to catch his breath. It had been a few weeks since he had the dream of the day that changed his life. The day that made him a widow. The day that made him a single father of three. The day that would make him and John leave Atlantis forever.

For the first year the dream plagued him nightly and now three and half years later the dream came only once or twice a month. Every time he woke from the nightmare it felt as if someone had stuck their hand in his chest and squeezed tightly.

He reached over and turned on the lamp next to the bed. Rodney groaned when the clock told him that it was one in the morning. He grabbed his glasses from the table and put them on and knowing he was not going to go back to sleep, Rodney got out of bed and headed down stairs.

On his way to the kitchen Rodney nearly tripped over something, "Damn it." He cursed as he bent down to pick the backpack and several papers fell out. From the size of the bag he knew it was Abigail's. Rodney went to put the papers back when he noticed the letter from school addressed to him, "What now?"

He dreaded reading what the letter said. The girl may look like her mother, but the personality was his. Rodney imagined it was some kind of divine payback that he was raising a miniature version of himself, "What has my little devil done this time?"

Opening the letter, the father let out a loud sigh, "Pushing a boy into the dirt! What am I going to do with her?" He rubbed the back of his neck. Rodney found himself out on the patio, looking out over the mountain that was visible from the back of the house. He looked down at the wedding band that had only been taken off once in the six and half years since it was put on. There were days Rodney wondered how he got through it all and wondered how much of it was because of the twice monthly therapy sessions and antidepressants. "I miss you so much," he sighed as he stared up at the clear night sky.

A noise from the kitchen drew Rodney back to reality. He wondered which of his children he would be busting for sneaking downstairs for a late night snack.

"I don't think so," the father pulled the bag of Oreos from his oldest daughter's hand. _Just the one I need to speak to._

"Daddy." Abigail turned around on the chair to face her father. She gave a sheepish shrug.

"Abigail," he threw the bag of cookies back in the cabinet. "What do you think you are doing?"

"I was hungry," she answered simply.

"It is one in the morning." Rodney pointed out.

"Sooooo," the girl rolled her eyes.

"It is one in the morning," the father repeated.

"But I was hungry." Abigail pouted.

"How was school today?" Rodney thought he would change the subject. He reached over for the letter that had been sent home.

"Ohhh." Abigail hoped to have gotten away with it.

"Ohhh," he mimicked his daughter. "Did you think you were going to get away with this?" His temper started to flare. "Why did you push that boy?"

"He was being stupid."

Rodney raised his finger, "What did I say about using that word?"

"But you and Uncle John use it all the time," the girl countered.

"That's not the point. Why did you push him?" Rodney demanded. "I am sick and tired of getting these letters from school."

Abigail pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, "He was making fun of me." She pushed her lower lip out as far as she could.

"That is no excuse for pushing someone..." He started but his daughter interrupted.

"But you and Uncle..." Now it was Rodney's turn to interrupt.

"Do as I say and not as I do." Rodney would have to talk to John about their behavior when he returned. They were a bad influence on his children as they acted too much like children at times.

"It's a dumb holiday anyway." Abigail sighed as she jumped off the chair.

"What is?" He was confused as to what his daughter was going on about.

"Miss Evans told us to make cards for mother's day. I don't have one to make a card for," the girl sat down on the chair.

Rodney looked down at his daughter and did not know what to say. He knew he should be mad at her for acting out, but it was difficult to do so because of the reason. McKay frowned and rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to figure out what to say to Abigail.

"Did I really ever really have a mom? You don't talk about her anymore." Abigail looked up at her father for answers.

His face fell at the question, "Of course you did." Rodney bent down to pick her up. "You look a lot like her," he said with a sad smile.

"Why don't you talk about her anymore? I liked the stories you used to tell us about her."

The father sighed as it was a difficult question to answer. It had been a little over a year since Rodney had mentioned their mother to his kids. It was a result of a fight he had with Jeannie. She had been pushing him to start dating, saying his children needed a mother figure in their life and that conversation was the last time Rodney would ever talk to his sister. "What do you want to know?"

"Do you miss her?" Abigail asked.

The father nodded, "Very much." Rodney sighed as there were some moments it hurt just as much as the moment he lost her.

"Why don't I remember her?" The girl asked, resting her head on her father's shoulder.

"You were really young when she died." Rodney rubbed his daughter's back, "She loved the three of you very much."

"Did you love her?" Abigail wanted all her questions answered.

The elder McKay bit his lip for a second. He knew it was not fair to them that he had stopped talking about their mother, but some days it was so hard not to have her around, "I still do."

"I don't remember what she looks like," she asked.

Rodney nodded, "I keep pictures up in my room." It was easier for him to keep them there. "I can show them to you tomorrow after dinner. That is if you don't get into trouble."

The girl pouted, "But…but."

"But nothing. I don't want to see any letters from school tomorrow. You understand?"

Abigail gave a dramatic eye roll, "If I must."

"You must." Rodney insisted. She was definitely the most difficult of the three to raise. "Now back to bed," he put the girl back on the floor.

"Night daddy," she ran back upstairs to her room. She thought herself to be a big girl and did not need to be tucked in.

After Abigail left Rodney shook his head. Raising his children on his own was not something he had ever expected to be doing, but they were the only thing he had left to keep him sane.

_

* * *

__Atlantis: Control Room_

Woolsey was standing behind Radek, who was checking on some power fluctuations out on the west pier, "Did you find out what is causing it?"

"No." Zelenka shook his head. Even after three years of being the head of science and research he was not used to the pressure of the job when Rodney made it seem like the job was so easy.

Then the gate alarm sounded, indicating an off-world activation. On instinct Radek raised the gate shield as he waited for an IDC to be received.

"That is not possible," Woolsey said as the system the IDC belonged to Jennifer McKay. He turned to look at Radek who was equally confused, "Lower the shield and send a security team to the gate room."

Both men raced down the stairs to the gate room and waited to see who or whatever was going to come through. A silence fell over the entire room as the figure emerged from the gate.

"Jennifer?" Radek rushed over to the woman. She looked exactly like the Jennifer McKay; a little beat up, but there was no mistaking that was her.

Jennifer was confused and quite dazed. Guns were pointed at her and the whole room was spinning. "Radek?" she tried to focus on the man holding her up. "They are gone. I woke up and they were gone. Where are they?" The world then blacked out around her.

A medical team rushed into the gate room to treat the unconscious doctor.

Woolsey looked over at his military commander, "Colonel Lorne, take your team and search the planet…"

Evan did not need him to finish, "We will see what we can find." It was a shock to see the female Dr. McKay alive.

Radek stood there in shock and he looked over at the expedition leader, "What do we do?" He wondered if the woman was the same Jennifer McKay that had supposedly died in the explosion. Strange things always did happen in the Pegasus galaxy.

Richard looked over at his chief scientist and shook his head, "Nothing until we know if this woman is really Jennifer McKay or not.

"What about Rodney?" Zelenka asked. "He should know if there is a chance that she is alive."

Woolsey thought on it for a few minutes, "But what if it is not really her. Can we put him through that again? What about their children?"

Radek nodded in understanding, "You have a point. If that woman is not the Jennifer we knew I don't think Rodney will be able to handle that." He knew what a difficult time the former chief of science had when his wife died and he knew he still was not having an easy time of it, "I am going to check on her."


	2. Chapter 2

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis

**Please leave reviews. They are always welcome.**

* * *

**Chapter 2- Awakening**

_Atlantis Infirmary_

Richard and Radek were standing over a computer terminal as Dr. Cole was explaining the results of the test they had run the woman who had come through the gate late yesterday.

"I've run all the blood work several times and everything matches what we had on file for Jennifer McKay." The doctor said softly as she looked at the still unconscious woman on the bed behind them. "Another test I ran shows that she gave birth within the last twelve months."

The two men looked over at each other confused, "A baby? How is that possible?" Richard was the first to speak up.

Jennifer had been semi-conscious through the conversation and was not sure if she was hearing them right, "Zoe," she said to answer Woolsey's question.

The three turned around, thinking that Jennifer was still unconscious, "What about her?" Radek asked.

It was tiring for Jennifer to speak, "She said I gave birth within the last year." She pointed to the other doctor. "Last time I checked seven months was less than a year. Where is she?"

Everyone looked at each other, trying to figure out how to answer that. Zoe had been seven months at the time of her apparent death and they knew soon the girl would be turning four.

Jennifer was not liking the silent treatment. Silence usually meant the news was bad and the look on their faces were not convincing her otherwise, "Where are my children?"

Radek was the first to speak, "They are safe." _On Earth with their father. _It had been two weeks since the Czech spoke to Rodney and he had said his children were doing good.

That still was not the answer she was looking for as Jennifer wanted to know where her children where. She was glad they were okay, but she needed to see them. She mustered all the strength she had to sit up and look around. She frowned when there was no sign of the others. The doctor collapsed against the bed, feeling all the energy expended from her body. "They didn't make it, didn't they?" a stray tear rolled down her face.

"Who didn't make it?" Radek asked, not realizing what she was asking.

"Rodney, John and Ronon," she looked at the Czech like he was stupid for asking the question.

"We have some questions that we need you to answer first," Richard tried to be as diplomatic as possible.

"Questions? What kind of questions?" Jennifer was getting upset. "What about answering me about where my husband and children are?"

Woolsey shook his head, "We need a few questions answered first."

The female sighed, feeling defeated. She only got through a handful of their questions before she passed out from exhaustion. Jennifer believed that they were dead and that was the true reason they refused to answer her.

_

* * *

_

_Stargate Command_

Rodney was working in his lab that he shared with Sam and sighed at how quiet it was, "Why are you so quiet, shorty?" He looked to see where his youngest child was.

"Making a list," Zoe looked up at her father.

"Making a list? For what?" He was looking for a distraction from the mundane work of tying up loose ends for coding he was working on.

"What I want for my birthday," she made her way to him.

Rodney smirked, "And when is that? You know I'm getting old and forget things like that," he picked his daughter up, placing her on his knee.

Zoe laughed, "You know it's tomorrow, daddy." She handed the list over to him. The list was just a set of drawings that depicted what she wanted.

"What do we have here?" The father looked over the list, "Cat...pony," Rodney was able to guess the first two drawings, but he could not figure out the next two. "What are these?" He pointed to the last two pictures. "Cup and a doll?"

Zoe shook her head, "No. Tea party set and a baby."

He was almost speechless, "Tea party set I can do. Arthur is allergic to cats. We have no room for a pony." Rodney swallowed hard, "A baby?"

The girl nodded, "Just like Dr. Lam has. I want someone else to play with."

"Zoe, babies aren't toys to play with. They take a lot of work. A whole lotta lotta work."

"So I can help," Zoe insisted.

Rodney shook his head, "It is not that easy."

"What's not what easy?" Sam asked as she entered the lab. It had been a month since she last stepped foot inside the lab and part of her was glad to be back. It had been a month since Jack died and she thought it was time to try to return to some semblance of normal and Sam knew McKay would be one of the few people who knew well enough to leave her alone.

He looked relieved that someone had shown up to distract Zoe this line of conversation, "Hey, Sam. Wasn't expecting you back today."

"I want daddy to have a baby, so I can have someone to play with," Zoe pouted.

Sam stifled a laugh, "Oh, I'm leaving this one to you, Rodney." The father-daughter duo was always entertaining and always put her in a good mood.

"Thanks," Rodney sighed. "We will talk about this when we get home," he put Zoe back on the ground. "Finish making that list. Sam and I have some things to talk about."

"Okay," Zoe sighed as she went back to her little table.

"I am just about finished on the communications relay. I think it might be ready for a test later today," he turned his attention back the coding he had been working on. Rodney gave her a small smile. He was not going to push her to talk, knowing how much he hated it when he was in her position three years ago. The relay had been a pet project of Rodney's for the last two years and involved multiple small satellites placed between Earth and Atlantis that were cloaked and would provide instantaneous communication between the two bases.

"Really?" Sam asked, taking the seat next to him.

Rodney nodded, "Two years of hard work finally paying off. Instant communication with Atlantis without having the dial the gate." He was rather pleased with himself. What had started off as a project to take his mind off Jennifer was about to become a reality.

"The glitches with the satellite cloaking?"

"Ellis said there were no malfunctions as of last night," a look of smug satisfaction spread across his face. "We finally did it."

She shook her head and started to laugh.

"What is so funny?" Rodney looked upset that she was laughing. "This is not a time to be laughing."

Sam covered her mouth, "Sorry. It's just that you said _we_."

"And your point? You worked on this just as much as I have," he furrowed his brow.

She shook her head, "Sorry. I was just thinking of the first time I met you and how he would have never used the word _we_ when it came to a project."

Rodney rolled his eyes and gave a fake laugh, "Yeah. Ha. Ha. I know I was a complete jerk back then and it got me shipped off to Russia for six months."

Sam nodded, "You were just a little bit difficult...okay a lot difficult to deal with back then. I would never have expected that jerk to become the person you are today."

"There was a compliment somewhere in there, wasn't there?" McKay raised his finger in the air.

"There was," she nodded her head and then fell silent. After a few moments, Sam looked up and sighed, "It gets easier, doesn't it?" She was wading into that painful territory and he was one of the few she knew that had gone through the same exact pain she was feeling.

Rodney had been typing on the computer and heard only part of the question, "Huh? What gets easier?" The look on Sam's face told him the question she was asking, "You want the truth or the sugar-coated answer?" There was a pained expression on his face.

Sam rubbed the back of her neck and frowned the look on his face said it all; he was still in a lot of pain. It was only a month for her and she woke up every night crying.

"Who ever came up with that expression 'Time heals all wounds.' was a moron. It is not true and it still hurts like hell," he held up his left hand. "See, I still wear my wedding band. Can't take it off." His therapist had suggested that it was time he took it off, but it was something Rodney could not bring himself to do yet.

"How do you do it?" she asked, looking for some guidance.

Rodney shrugged, "I don't know. Knowing my children need me helps. If you want honesty I don't know if I would be here if I didn't have them." That is where their situations were different; he had children and she didn't.

Carter frowned. She was glad for his honesty and put her hand on his shoulder, "Thank you."

"For what? I haven't done anything," he was confused. If anything Rodney thought he had made her feel worse.

Sam kissed his cheek, "You have." She offered him a weak smile.

"I did? What did I do?" he was lost now.

"Telling me the truth. You've been where I am and you've managed to survive," she smiled as she looked at his coding. "Looks like you are done."

Rodney offered a small shrug, "Almost." He looked at his watch and sighed, "And I've got to pick up my two oldest." McKay looked at his daughter, "It's time to go." He turned his attention back to Sam, "I am going to wrap up a few last loose ends from home and try the test run from there. I'll call you to let you know how it goes."

Sam nodded, "I am going to be here a while. Going to catch up on some projects."

_

* * *

_

_Atlantis Infirmary_

Jennifer woke several hours later to find herself alone. She thought it had to be the middle of the night since the infirmary was only this quiet at that time. She shut her eyes as she heard footsteps approaching, hoping she could overhear something. There was the distinct impression that they were keeping something from her. Being with Rodney all these years some of his paranoia had rubbed off on her. _Could he really be dead?_

"Have you been able to figure out what the device does?" Woosley asked the small scientist. The two men were going to check if there had been any changes in Jennifer's condition as they still had some questions for her.

Radek shook his head, "No. I cannot do anything with it. It's like a huge paperweight."

"Do you have an idea when you will know anything?" Richard pressed the other man.

Zelenka threw up his hands, "I have no idea. I don't have the resources to devote a lot of time to this. My team has been working on the power problems on the west pier." Rodney had always made it seem like his job was easy and three years later Radek was still struggling with it.

Woosley nodded, "I understand." Keeping the power to the west pier was a top priority. "What are you suggesting we do?"

"Send the device back to the SGC," the Czech suggested. "Rodney and Sam would probably have better luck with it." He paused and looked over where Jennifer was sleeping.

Richard agreed, "Do you know if Sam has returned to work yet?"

Zelenka shrugged, "I don't know. As of last week I heard she had not returned."

"Rodney knows these kind of devices better than anyone," the scientist nodded. "But what do we tell him? Do we tell him that there is a chance that Jennifer is alive?" He was trying to find the words. Radek knew they had the same conversation the day before but now the situation was different and there was no way they could do this without Rodney.

Jennifer wished she had not pretended to be sleeping as the gravity of their words sunk in. This explained why everyone had been acting odd around her; they thought her to be dead.

"When is the last time you spoke to Dr. McKay?"

"Two weeks ago. He sent some updated coding for the communication relay," Radek sighed. He had not appreciated the belittling from his former boss.

"Is it almost ready?" The leader asked.

"Rodney believes so. He is ironing out the some of the security protocols and fixing glitches with the cloaking. It should be online any day now." Radek explained.

Jennifer was trying to speak but as she was absorbing the information, she wonder how long she was thought dead. It was clear from the conversation that her husband was alive and has been on Earth for some time. It was a safe assumption that their children were with him.

The two men looked at each other as the Star Trek theme started to play through the com system.

Richard tapped his earpiece, "Whomever is playing that music. You know it is against base protocol to use the radios for this purpose."

The music stopped and was replaced by a familiar voice, "And what if I am three million light years away?"

Radek rolled his eyes, "You know you have some odd timing."

Richard smiled._ Odd timing indeed._ "Rodney, I take it this means the communication relay is ready?"

Rodney rolled his eyes, "Considering I am in Colorado Springs I would say so. I'm only testing it out tonight."

"Who is there with you, running the test?" Zelenka asked. It sounded too quiet to be the SGC. "Is Sam around?"

"Arthur, Abigail and Zoe," he replied.

"You are home?" Richard asked.

"I am. Plus of being one of the bosses. I can make my own hours so I can pick Arthur and Abigail up from school. Besides it is feeding time here." Rodney placed the pizza box on the dining room table. The girls were already at the table, but his son was missing. "Arthur! Pizza's here. Get off your computer," he yelled up the stairs.

Richard looked at Jennifer lying in the bed and he was torn; he was unsure if he should say anything about the woman. He sighed and turned away from her, "Speaking of which how are the children? How about Colonel Sheppard?"

Rodney smirked, "They are good. John is good too. He is off-world or he would have liked to have been here for this." He looked down at Abigail, who was pulling at his shirt, "What is it?"

Abigail stood up on her chair and leaned over to whisper, "Who are you talking to? Is it that strange little man with glasses? The one you and Uncle John say can't do your job as good as you?" But her words were hard over the radio.

Radek's face turned bright red. Obviously Rodney was passing along his attitude to his offspring. "What are the two of you teaching those kids? I can do your job," he was flustered.

"Relax, Radek. She is only five. Don't be too hard on her." He kissed the top of his daughter's head. "That was not a nice thing to say, Abigail."

Zelenka felt it was as if Rodney had never left, "And Abigail is already taking after you."

"You have no idea. You should come over and babysit and see what I deal with." It was so easy for the two to fall back into their old bantering.

"Gentlemen," Richard spoke up. "Rodney, we are having a little trouble with a device we located. Would it be possible for you to pay us a visit and lend us some assistance tomorrow?"

Jennifer had been listening in on the conversation and she thought it was time to speak up, "Radek." She said hoarsely. She wondered what Radek meant by _the two of you._ Who was the second person he was referring to?

"Can't," Rodney replied. "Have an appointment in the morning and it is Zoe's birthday. You can send it to the SGC and I can take a look at it when I am there in the morning."

Radek turned pale when Jennifer spoke. He wondered how much of their conversation she had heard. He looked to Woolsey for some help.

"I want to talk to my husband," she tried to reach out for Zelenka. The was a look of desperation on her face. No one had told her anything. All she knew was that her husband was living with someone and Abigail was taking after her father.

Richard sighed and reached for his earwig. Despite his earlier misgivings about telling Rodney the truth, he could not in good conscious ignore her request. It should have never been up to him to try to shield Rodney from this. "Rodney, there is someone who needs to talk to you," he handed Jennifer his radio.

"Who is it?" Rodney wondered who wanted to talk to him.

Jennifer's hand was shaking as she put the radio around her ear, "Rodney..."

A chill ran through his body. This was impossible; a cruel trick. Rodney face went pale as he grabbed the back the chair, "J...J...Jennifer?"

There was no reply, "Jennifer." He called her name several more times and no response came. "Radek...Woolsey," he tried to get in contact it the others and still no response. Rodney knew what the silence meant, something happened to the connection. "No...no...no. This can't be happening." It was time to panic.

"Yes, Rodney," Jennifer sighed. She started to shake after he did not respond. "You still there?" she asked and looked over at Radek.

Zelenka tried to raise McKay on the radio and failed, "The connection is gone."


	3. Chapter 3

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis

**Please leave reviews. They are always welcome.**

* * *

**Chapter 3- Connection Down**

"Dad, what happened?" Arthur asked his father as he ate a slice of pizza. "Who were you talking to?"

Rodney looked over at his son and did not have a good answer for him.

"Are you going to have to go to work?" the boy asked.

His son's question got the attention of Abigail and Zoe and now all three of them did not look happy at the idea that their father had to go to work. Rodney sighed, "Sorta." But this was not a normal trip to work. He had to get in contact with Atlantis and find out what was going on and if that woman really was Jennifer. "Come on. Don't look at me like that," his face fell.

Abigail looked at her father, "What did the strange little man say? Did he get you mad?"

Rodney head was spinning. He was not sure what to tell them. Should he go to the SGC and contact Atlantis? Or actually step through the gate for the first time since he returned to Earth? Then most importantly does he take the children with him? John and Carson were both off-world and that left him with no one to watch them.

"It was not him," he smiled at his daughter. "How would you like to take a trip?" Rodney knew none of them had any real memories of living on Atlantis. Arthur might have a few passing memories, but nothing much.

"Where?" Arthur asked.

"A place really far away. Where we lived before here," he explained.

Abigail looked at her father and was worried. She had never seen him this pale before, "Are you going to be okay?" she wrapped her arms around Rodney and gave him a big hug.

Rodney looked at his daughter and sighed, "I..I...I don't know." He did not have the first clue of how to explain this to them. He picked up his daughter and kissed her cheek.

"Do you want me to hurt who ever upset you?" She said, feeling the need to protect her father.

The father laughed, "No. It's okay Abigail." Rodney put her down, taking a deep breath to calm himself. He had to keep it together in front of the kids. Inside he was going crazy and part of him wondered if this was some cruel trick Radek was playing on him to get back at him for the years of belittling he put the other man through.

Rodney took several deep breaths before addressing the children again, "Finish up the pizza and I will pack for us." He ran his hand over the back of his head before heading upstairs where he did not have to hold it together. The man paced in his room, chewing his lip, "Could it really be her? I saw her die. The heat...the radiation. This is all a cruel trick." Rodney kicked the wooden chest at the foot of his bed.

He blinked away a few tears from his eyes and reached for the phone on the nightstand. His hand was shaking as he dialed Carter's cell phone.

Sam was finishing up a report when she heard her phone ring. She looked at the caller ID and saw it was from the McKay household, "You run the test?"

His mind was going a million miles a hour and so was his mouth, "It works. Then I lost the connection. Are you still at the SGC?" There was a shakiness to his voice.

"I was about to leave. What happened?" She thought it sounded like he was crying. Something was not right and she was worried.

Rodney sighed and closed his eyes, "I need you to dial Atlantis. I don't know what is going on. The connection it was gone. It can't be. It couldn't be. There is no way this is happening. Maybe I am going crazy. Maybe Radek is screwing with me, but I don't know why Woolsey would let him do that. Call them...dial the gate and ask them what the hell is going on? What the hell game are they playing? Why are they doing this to me now? This isn't funny. How can they think something like this would be funny? How did they do this? Never mind. We will be there in an hour." He did not even give Carter a chance to talk before hanging up the phone.

Sam stood there, shocked. She had no idea what he was going on about and she not seen him this panicked in a very long time. Carter had to wonder what happened during the test to get Rodney this worked up. The only way she would get an answer was to dial the gate.

_

* * *

_

**_Atlantis Infirmary_**

Jennifer panicked when Radek told her the connection was gone, "Can't they just dial the gate and get back in contact?"

Radek frowned, "Rodney wasn't at the SGC. He was home running the test."

She sighed, wondering where this home was, "He's at the apartment we lived in when the twins were born?" She knew it was too small for the size of their family, but it was only ten minutes from the SGC.

Zelenka knew the place she was talking about, "No. He has a house about forty minutes from the SGC." He did not know how to break it to the woman about how much time had passed.

"Where is John?" Jennifer asked. She knew he would give her the answers she was looking for.

Richard shook his head, "Colonel Sheppard is no longer a member of this expedition."

That was not the answer she had been hoping for, but then Jennifer remembered that Woolsey had asked Rodney how John was, "He's on Earth too?"

Radek nodded, "Left with Rodney. Actually he lives in an apartment over the garage of the house."

She was fighting back tears, scared at how much time had passed since the explosion. Jennifer knew it had to be a while. Was it months? Could it be years? Neither man looked any different so maybe it was only months. Months she could deal with. She wanted to ask the question, but she was too scared to hear the answer, "What happened at the outpost? Why did they leave?"

Woolsey looked to Radek, "After the explosion the radiation levels rose. They had no choice. They had to leave."

Jennifer closed her eyes, "I can remember the explosion, but when I woke up it did not look like there had been an explosion."

"That is strange. Even after all this time there still should have been some trace of the explosion. The only thing that was found was a device and I don't have the time to figure out what it does," the Czech shook his head.

This was too much for her to handle, "I want to be sent to Earth. I want to see my children and Rodney."

Woolsey was about to respond when he heard Chuck call him over the radio.

"_I've got Colonel Carter on the radio from Stargate Command. She needs to talk to you and Dr. Zelenka. She says it's important."_

"Thank you, Chuck," he looked at the scientist and the physician. Richard did not have to ask what this is about. "Colonel, welcome back."

"Thank you," she said calmly. "Is something going on there I should know about?"

"I assume Rodney called you," the base leader replied.

Sam sighed heavily, "If that is what you call it. He said he ran the test. What happened? Rodney was worked up over something. He was extremely agitated and I haven't seen him like this in a very long time. He was making no sense and seemed to think that you might have pulled some kind of joke on him?"

"We did not pull a joke on him. What did he tell you, exactly?"

"Nothing specific. He said he is coming in," she had to wonder what was going on. Sam had seen Rodney panic a number of times, but nothing quite like this.

Richard nodded, "That is good. Would it be possible for him and his children to get authorization to come to Atlantis?"

"Rodney's authorization was never revoked, but you know he refuses to return after what happened with Jennifer."

"She is alive, Sam. That is why Rodney was upset. We lost the relay connection before they had a chance to talk, but they heard each other before the connection went down," Radek explained.

Carter blew a long breath, being speechless for the moment. She looked back on the conversation she had earlier in their lab and found it ironic. Sam sighed, "Oh wow." She did not know what else to say as her mind kept on jumping back to when he said _it still hurts like hell_. "How? Where has she been all this time?"

"That is what we are trying to figure out. The last thing she remembers is the explosion and she woke up in the same location." Richard explained.

"After three years?"

"I know. We cannot explain it. There was an ancient device found at the outpost and it might have something to do with what happened," Woolsey frowned as he looked at Jennifer, who was scowling at him.

Sam looked over at the open wormhole and frowned. She knew she should be happy that Rodney was getting a chance to fill a large hole in his life that had been there since his wife died, but it hurt knowing she would never get the chance to have that hole filled. Jack had been in his coffin; a heart attack while playing golf with John put him in there. "Is she going to be okay?" It would be devastating if after all this that the woman was not going to survive.

"Jennifer's injuries are minor. Dr. Cole was planning on discharging her from the infirmary in the morning," Woolsey reassured her.

"Rodney should be here in about an hour. What do you want me to tell him?" She had forgotten about the time difference. It was close to six in the evening in Colorado and it was about two in the morning in Atlantis.

Richard shook his head, "I don't know what to say in a situation such as this, but do tell him we were not tying to mess with him and that he heard what he thought he heard."

* * *

_**Stargate Command**_

"Will do. Carter out," Same disengaged the wormhole. She rubbed the back of her neck and put her hand on Walter's shoulder, "Walter, please contact General Landry and tell him...tell him I need to speak to him ASAP."

"Will do, ma'am," the gate technician stood up to locate the general.

* * *

**_Atlantis Infirmary_**

Jennifer was very upset at how the two men were talking as if she was not there, "Can one of you give me some answers now?" She crossed her arms over her chest, ready to launch into a rant.

The two men knew that look all too well and had seen it too many times from her other half and neither wanted to be on the receiving end of a verbal assault.

"Rodney will be here soon. The answers you are looking for should be answered by him," Radek knew he was taking the easy way out, but it made sense that her husband should be the one to give her the answers. Rodney would have all the answers she needed. The scientist had not seen Rodney in over two years, but the two had been in frequent contact because of the relay.

The physician did not like that answer and the growing glare made her feelings obvious. She knew that their reluctance to answer her meant the news could not be good. Jennifer glared at the two men, "Just get out of here. I don't want to see either of you." She closed her eyes and fell back against the pillow. She was comforted by the fact that she had ways to make her husband talk.

* * *

**_Stargate Command_**

Sam was looking at her watch, counting down the seconds she would expect to see Rodney burst through the doors. It was almost to the hour he came rushing into the lab with his children not to far behind him.

"Care to tell me what the hell is going on? What are Zelenka and Woolsey trying to pull?" Rodney tossed their bags on Zoe's table. He could not stop shaking and it was a small miracle they made it here in one piece.

She knew this was to be expected, "Rodney calm down. I spoke to them. She's alive."

He shook his head, "This is not possible. I was there. The explosion...they said there was no way. The radiation." Rodney could feel his composure almost gone. He looked over at his children who were curiously watching him, "Let's continue this outside." This was not a conversation he wanted to have in front of the children.

"Okay," Sam nodded and followed Rodney outside the lab. She leaned against the closed door.

"How? How is it possible? I know what I heard, but how is it possible? The fire it was so hot," he was filled with a mix of emotions. How was he going to explain this to the kids.

She put a hand on his shoulder, "I don't know. Radek said they found a device near the explosion site and that is where Jennifer said she woke up."

"Wait? What?" Rodney wondered if that was even possible. "How can that be? It was 1262 days ago. Where has she been all this time?"

Sam shrugged, "I have no idea. Radek thinks the device might have something to do with it." She was stunned he knew it down to the exact number of days since the explosion.

He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to find relief for the tension, "I need to go there. Need to find out what is going on." Rodney took several deep breaths as he felt he was on the edge of a panic attack.

"You know your authorization for Atlantis was never revoked. You can go over there now, but Walter is trying to find Landry to get authorization for Arthur, Abigail and Zoe," she knew that bit of news would not go over well.

"They lived there. Abigail and Zoe were born there. How can they not still have authorization?" Rodney was not happy as he clenched his fist into a ball.

Sam shrugged, knowing he knew the reason was because they were only children and that posed a security risk, "Hopefully, Landry can be found soon and let them go. I think you should go for now."

"They aren't going to be happy," he pointed back to the room. "But I have to do this." Rodney rubbed his hands over his face, "I'm sorry you have to deal with this."

Carter frowned, but squeezed his shoulder, "It's okay. Find out what is going on." She knew if anyone could figure out the device, it would be him especially since he had a personal stake in figuring it out.

Rodney gave a small smile, "Thanks." He turned and entered the lab, confused as to what he was going to say to them.

Arthur looked at his father , "Dad, what were you talking about with Sam?" He had never seen his father this upset and knew it had to be serious.

"Um. I am going to have to go away for a while. Sam is trying to get permission for you to come with me, but I am going to have to leave now. Hopefully you will be able to join me soon," Rodney thought there had to be an easier way to do this.

Zoe looked at him, not very happy, "But tomorrow is my birthday. You promised that we could go to the zoo." The young girl was on the verge of throwing a temper tantrum.

"Shorty," he picked up his youngest. "I know I said that, but this is something that is really important." Rodney felt a lump form in his throat. "I might be able to bring you something back that would be better than a day at the zoo."

She still was not happy with that, "But, daddy. Why do you have to go? Can someone else go?" Zoe started to cry.

Rodney shook his head, "They can't. I have to do this." He rubbed her back. "I'm sorry. Please don't be mad at me."

Abigail was tapping her foot, angry just like her sister, "What about what you promised me? I was good in school today. No notes were sent home."

To took a moment for the father to remember what he had promised her. That made him sigh, knowing that he would be able to do better than what he promised. Rodney had no idea how to respond to that, "I have to go now." It was breaking his heart to leave like this, but he had no choice.

"Please don't go," Zoe started to scream, clinging to her father. "I don't want you to go."

"Zoe, I have to go. Stay with Sam for a while. I will come back as soon as I can," Rodney tried to put her down, but the girl would not let go and she started screaming louder.

"No," the girl scream and sunk her teeth into her father's shoulder as he tried to put her down. This was the first time he was leaving her overnight and she did not want him to go.

"Owww," he screamed as his shoulder was bit. "Enough Zoe," Rodney pulled her off of him. "Arthur, look after her," he grabbed his bag and quickly left the room before any of them could react. "Can you watch them?" Rodney asked Sam, rubbing his shoulder.

The woman had heard the small girl yelling, "Sure. Everything alright?" Sam asked, seeing the wet spots on his t-shirt.

"She bit me. She hates me. Try to fine Landry soon, please," he was almost begging.

"I'll try. Good luck, Rodney," she gave him a quick hug. "I'll make sure they are okay."

Rodney sighed before rushing toward the gate room.

_

* * *

_

**_Atlantis Control Room_**

Radek was sitting in Woolsey's office with the man, waiting for Rodney to show up. Dr. Cole had told them that Jennifer had fallen asleep shortly after they left. Radek jumped when off-world activation alarm rang. He felt as if an old college professor was coming for a visit to critique his work, but it was only Rodney. The two men headed to the catwalk that over looked the gate and waited for McKay to appear after Chuck told them that the IDC belong to the SGC.

"You two," Rodney yelled, pointing at them as he walked down the ramp. "Tell me what the hell is going on?"

Zelenka groaned as they were barked at. He noticed that the man looked different; a good forty pounds lighter and he now wore glasses, "Rodney?" His personality was still the same.

"Who else would it be?" he started up the stairs toward the two men. "Now can one of you give me answers?"

The two Atlantis personnel looked at each other as his words were almost the exact same that Jennifer used earlier, "Let's head to the infirmary," Richard said. "You came alone?"

Rodney frowned, "Landry wasn't around to give authorization to allow them to join me." He turned to Radek and poked the man in the shoulder, "What does the device do?"

The Czech shook his head, "That is why we called you."

"And the fact that my wife is alive had nothing to do with it?" his voice oozed with sarcasm. "How is she?" Rodney turned to Woolsey for an answer.

"Jennifer will be fine. Her injuries were similar to the ones you received," the balding man explained. "The last thing she remembers before waking up was the explosion."

Rodney shook his head, "Excuse me, but I have to go see her." He did not need to be shown the way.

_

* * *

_

_**Atlantis Infirmar**y _

Rodney raced to the infirmary as fast as he could, glad that it was the middle of the night Atlantis time, "My god." He stopped short as he saw Jennifer laying in the bed. Hearing her voice was one thing, but finally seeing her here and breathing was something else. He carefully made his way to her bed side, content to watch her sleep. "How?" he reached out to brush her cheek with the back of his hand. "I was there...the heat. What happened there? Where have you been all these years?" McKay pulled a chair over to the bedside and sat. "My sweet angel," he took his wife's hand in his and brought it to his lips. Rodney watched her chest rise and fall with each breath and wondered if this was a dream. He expected to woken up by Zoe jumping on his back, wanting her birthday presents.

Jennifer started to stir, but did not wake up.

"It's okay. I'm here now," he whispered, resting his head on the bed. "When you wake I'll be here."


	4. Chapter 4

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis, but the McKay children are of my creation

**Please leave reviews. They are always welcome.**

**Chapter 4- Family Reunited**

_Atlantis Infirmary_

Rodney was content to watch his wife sleep as he never thought that he would have this opportunity again and he was not going to waste it. "I've missed you so much," he watched her hand that was linked with his. The couple had held hands like this countless times, talking about everything and nothing and sometimes not saying anything at all. It was a simple, but intimate gesture. The simple things is what Rodney missed most: the way she'd play with his hair to help him fall asleep after a stressful day, bringing meals to each other when the other was too busy with work to remember to eat, late night conversations over the radio when working late, the feel of her breath on his neck while the slept next to each other and the thing he missed most were the times it was just the five of them just doing things families do. As he watched Jennifer, Rodney had no idea how to tell her that over three years had passed and unlike when he lost his memory after his fall from the east pier she had no memories of their family that could be recovered. That thought caused a lump to form in his throat and tears slip down his cheeks.

Jennifer started tossing and turning, moaning and whimpering, "No. They can't be gone. Nooooooooo."

Rodney knew she was having a nightmare, but it was not clear about what. He needed to comfort his wife and let her know everything was going to be okay. Luckily Jennifer was lying on her side and Rodney was able to get into bed with her. It was a tight fit, but they had done this before when he was heavier, "Shhhh. It is alright. I'm here." He whispered into the back of the woman's hair as he held her close, trying to calm her. "Don't be scared, Jennifer," he pressed his lips to the back of her neck. The physicist's felt as if he was being pulled in many different directions. He was ecstatic that she was alive and here in his arms, but the negative side always had to nag at him._ Where has she been all this time? How do I tell her all this time has passed? What do I tell our children?_

She could hear his voice trying to comfort her, but the physician wondered if it was her imagination trying to soothe her. Jennifer woke up and knew it was not her imagination as she felt his arms around her and his head against her neck, "What took you so long?" The woman smirked, teasing her husband in the way they did with each other.

He had to laugh at her choice of words and her teasing, knowing she had no idea at how much time had lapsed since they last saw each other, "I could say the same about you." His voice was strained with emotion. Rodney tried to joke back, but he failed.

Jennifer heard his voice crack, "Rodney, how long has it been?" She knew Radek and Richard had avoided answering the question, but there was no way he would.

Rodney paused, not sure he was ready to answer that yet. "A while," he placed a kiss on her shoulder. _I don't know if I can do this._

She sighed heavily at his answer, not expecting him to avoid the issue. Jennifer carefully turned herself over to look at her husband and hoped he would not lie to her face. She did not expect what she saw. He was thinner than she remembered and the wire framed glasses were different, "How long? Months?" She bit her lip before burying her face into his shoulder. Jennifer knew the answer was not going to be good.

He closed his eyes as few tears escaped, knowing he should not keep the truth from her, "If you want the answer in months…forty months, two weeks and four days." If given the time he would be able to break it down into hours. Definitely a sign of someone who could not let go and probably bordered on obsessive.

"Three and half years!" she exclaimed. Jennifer never thought it had been that long and there was no way Rodney would have joked about that.

"Actually there is still six weeks before it is three and half years," Rodney could not help himself.

She grabbed onto his shirt and rolled her eyes, "Not now."

"Sorry," he whispered, burying his face in the top of her head. "I never thought I would see you again. This real, right? I am not going to wake up home and find this to be another one of my nightmares."

Jennifer tilted her head to study her husband's face, the pain was clear on his face and she had a feeling it was something permanently there. She was trying to digest that she had been gone for over three years and what happened in that time. Looking at his hand, she could see that he still wore the wedding band she put on his finger, "What happened at the outpost? Why is the explosion the last thing I remember?"

Rodney shook his head, "I don't know." He wanted those answers too. "Radek said they found a device at the outpost and he is having trouble figuring out what it does. That's why they wanted me, though I want to know why they didn't tell me right away. Makes me wonder if they didn't need me would they have told me you were alive," he started to play with her hair, trying to keep his mind from going to that dark place.

"I like the glasses," she moved as close to her husband as possible, scared that this might not be real. "They make you look sexier," Jennifer smirked as she ran a finger along his adam's apple. "You came alone?" she asked wondering where their children were.

He nodded and frowned, recalling the scene in his lab before he left the SGC, "They are with Sam at the SGC. She and Walter could not find Landry to give them authorization to allow them to come with me. Something about small children being a security risk."

Jennifer felt a tightness grow in her stomach, realizing she knew nothing about them. They would be very different from the last time she saw them, "Rodney, tell me about our children." She reached out for his hand, needing to draw from his strength.

"Where do you want me to start?" he asked with a smiled that could only come from a proud parent. "Should I start with my partner in crime, the troublemaker or the princess?"

"The troublemaker? " She shook her head, "Who is the trouble maker? And don't leave anything out." Jennifer wanted to know everything possible. She moved her head next to his and pressed her palm to his cheek,

Rodney smiled fondly. This was another thing he had missed sorely, "Abigail. Our Abigail is quite the troublemaker. She may look like you, but she is exactly like me when I was her age. She hates that her birthday is the day after Christmas and likes to play pranks on her Uncle John. I started her with piano lessons last month. Has a natural talent for it. At times she is five going on thirty-five."

Jennifer started to laugh, finding it very amusing. She was glad that Rodney and John still stayed close. "That means Zoe is the princess," she frowned. It was the one of her children she knew the least. The girl had not even said mama before the accident and now he was a toddler with a very distinct personality.

He nodded, "Or better known as my shadow. Zoe comes to work with me every day since Arthur and Abigail are in school. She is one of those girly girls who tortures Arthur and I with weekly tea parties. She is a math genius and loves to ask a lot of questions. Though she is really pissed at me now. Did this to me before I left the SGC," he pull down his shirt to show the bite mark on his shoulder.

"That looks like it had to hurt," she sighed before reaching out to touch the mark. "Why did she do that?"

Rodney sighed, knowing Jennifer would figure it out eventually, "Tomorrow is her birthday and I had promised to take her to the zoo. She didn't want me to leave."

The news hit Jennifer harder than she expected, she had never been there for one of Zoe's birthdays. She sat up, drawing her knees to her chest as she felt a cold emptiness take over.

He sat up next to her, worried that something serious was wrong, "What's wrong?" Rodney put a comforting hand on her back.

Jennifer shook her head, wiping tears from her eyes, "I can't take this. I need to get out of here." She could feel her chest start to tighten as the reality of her situation began to take its toll.

Rodney shook his head, "Not letting you leave here." He was worried that whatever injuries she had be made worse by leaving.

"Please," she gripped his arm tightly. "Rodney, I'm fine. I want to get out of here. Just take me somewhere that isn't here." It was true physicians made the worst patients.

He did not look so convinced, "The minute you are not feeling well I am bringing you right back here." Rodney did not care if he was being overprotective. He just got Jennifer back and he was going to make sure that she was not going anywhere soon.

Jennifer sighed and squeezed Rodney's hand, "I'm okay. It is only a mild concussion and some bruises." She looked into his eyes, but she saw them set with stubbornness.

"I was unconscious for a day and half..."

She looked at her husband, worried that he was seriously hurt from the explosion.

Rodney held is hands up, "Okay. It was more like sedated. Carson said I tried to bite him and that I would not stop screaming when he tried to set my wrist."

"The pain was that bad? Why..." She was silenced by the frown on his face, realizing he was not talking about the physical pain. "Sorry," she cupped his face between her hands. Jennifer could not fathom the grief he experienced. She knew that they went through when they lost their first daughter, but she could not imagine what she it would have felt like to think he was dead for years.

He leaned his face against her hand, realizing he had almost forgotten what her hands on his face felt like. "You are here now. That's what matters." Rodney's voice was barely audible. "There are things that I started to forget that I never thought I would."

Jennifer frowned, "It sounds like I'm not the only one who needs to get out of here." She put her arm around his shoulder and rested her head against his shoulder, pressing her lips against his neck. It still was a perfect fit.

Rodney sighed, trying to keep his emotions in check. "Our bench on the south pier?" It was the place the couple would retreat to when they wanted to be alone and not have any interruptions. Only three people knew of their spot and two of them were back in the Milky Way.

She smiled happily, "Just what I was thinking." They never spent much time on the bench and usually ended up sitting on the floor next to it. "Can we go now?"

He nodded and helped his wife out of bed, "Just hold to me." Rodney put his arm around Jennifer's waist. "Just lean against me."

Jennifer sighed, "I'm fine. There is no need to baby me." She hated being treated like a fragile piece of glass.

Rodney rolled his eyes, "What if I want to cop a feel? It has been a while." He tried make a good excuse for take extra care of her.

She knew what he was trying to do and it was working, "Dirty old man." She pinched his side and wondered what he meant by his comment. Jennifer started to wonder what he had been up to the last three years. A man had their needs, but he still wore his wedding band. She wouldn't blame him if he tried to move on with his life.

"Hey," the physicist jumped back. "Behave and I'm not a dirty old man. I'm just a concerned husband." Rodney offered his hand, "Is this better?"

She smiled, "Much." Jennifer took his hand and squeezed it. She leaned back to look over his new form. "How much weight did you lose?" Not that she had any problem with what he looked like before, but it was a little bit of a shock.

He made a face, "About forty pounds."

"What made you decide to lose weight?" Jennifer looked down as they walked, the small talk was good for now.

"Wasn't really by choice. Medication side effect," Rodney said quietly as he stuff his free hand into his pocket.

She stopped in her tracks, "Medication? For what?" Jennifer wondered if something could be wrong with him.

"Just an antidepressant," he was not able to look at his wife. It was something he was ashamed to admit. He thought it made him look weak and that he was not able to handle reality.

Jennifer pulled her husband in for a tight hug, "It is nothing to be ashamed of." It could not have been easy to wake up and suddenly be a single parent of three young children.

Rodney shrugged and sighed, "Can we keep going?"

She nodded and the rest of the walk was spent in silence. Jennifer sighed as he looked over at the moon hitting the water, knowing sunrise was in a few hours.

"I forgot what this place looked like at night," the Canadian said with a sigh. "It really does have a calming effect."

"It does," Jennifer nodded in agreement, her hand running up his back. "You know I'm pretty sure Zoe was conceived on this bench," she sat down and reached out for her husband's hand. The physician grinned as she recalled that night; Rodney had most of the hair singed off his right arm after one of his lab techs touched something they shouldn't have. He came into the infirmary yelling and cursing up a storm with the tech in near hysterics. She was the only one who was able to calm him down and after wrapping his arm she brought him here.

Rodney laughed at the memory, "You know the hair never fully grew back." He reached into his back pocket and took out his cell phone. "I know I told you about them, but thought you might want to see them." There was a grin on his face as he sat next to her.

Her eyes lit up at the suggestion. Jennifer did not think to ask about pictures of their children, "I would really like that."

"Of course being the doting father I have plenty of pictures," there was his infamous smug smirk. "Here," Rodney pulled up the first picture of Abigail putting barrettes on a sleeping Sheppard.

"Oh, that is too cute," Jennifer laughed. She was glad that the two men were still close. "Is he losing his hair?" It was obvious from the picture that he was.

"We don't mention it," he tried to suppress a laugh. "Last time I did I woke up in a bed full of whipped cream. Took me all day to clean it up."

"How mature of both of you," she rolled her eyes.

Rodney shrugged, "You know the two of us." He turned to the next picture that was of the sunset off the mountains visible from the patio.

Jennifer was amazed at the beauty of the picture, "Now that is somewhere I would like to see." She wound her arms around his neck and put her head on his shoulder. "Like viewing from his angle better. Can you take me there when we go back to Earth?"

"That's the view from the patio of our house," he smiled at new position of her head. "Great place to clear your head and think." Rodney changed to the next picture which he smirked when he saw it.

"Is that Madison?" She asked as she looked at the teenage girl who was dressed in a formal gown with a teenage boy in a tuxedo. "Isn't she a little too young for a formal?"

"She is, but her boyfriend Aaron is seventeen. This was at his senior formal last month."

Jennifer laughed, "Wow she really has grown up. I bet Jeannie and Kaleb hate that."

"I wouldn't know. I haven't talked to them in a year and half, but I still talk to Madison," Rodney said as if it were not a big deal.

"Why? What happened?" She wondered what would have happened that he would have stopped talking to his sister, but stayed in contact with his niece.

The husband shook his head, "Jeannie and I got into a bad fight and we stopped talking. It's no big deal." He did not want to get into the specifics . Rodney stiffened his shoulders, signaling he did not want to talk about it any further, "How about we continue with this little slideshow."

As Rodney showed more pictures Jennifer saw that they a happy well adjusted family. A complete family that did not need anyone else invading. Jennifer was glad that her children seemed happy, healthy and well adjusted. She did not want to disrupt their peaceful life. "You've done a great job with them, Rodney. You all seem so happy. It doesn't look like you need me. I don't have a right to disrupt your happy family." Tears were rolling down her face. It broke her heart to say that.

Rodney was shocked by her words, "You don't have a right?" he turned and cupped her face between his hands. "How can you say that? You are a part of this family. You always have been. We wouldn't be a family if it wasn't for you. Why the sudden change?" His voice was unsteady at her sudden attitude change.

Jennifer took a deep breath as he tried to control her crying, "Looking at all those pictures...the four of you seem so happy. Why should I come along and disrupt that? Is it fair to them?"

"Jennifer, look at me," he tried to get her to look at him. "You are their mother. They need you. I need you. We need you. Remember on our wedding day I said that our family is what true happiness was to me?" Rodney rested his forehead against hers. His emotions were raw and he was on the verge of tears.

"A mother who has not been in their lives for most of it," she closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths.

"The explosion took you away from us. By some miracle you survived and I will do everything I can to figure out how. It is not like you chose to leave us. Our children have a right to know their mother. Neither of us grew up in a two parent household," he said softly. "And now they can have that chance to have both of us."

Jennifer smiled and relaxed by his words, "When did you become the calm rational one?"

"When I married an amazing woman six and half years ago. She taught me a thing or two," he kissed her tears away.

_He still amazes me after all this time._ She ran her fingers through his hair while pulling Rodney's face to hers. Jennifer needed to feel his lips on hers and the kiss continued for what felt like several minute until they were interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

"Excuse me," Radek said from the door way. "Hate to interrupt, but I have someone here for you...actually three someones." He moved to show them that the Arthur, Abigail and Zoe had arrived. "When I did not see you two in the infirmary I thought I might find you here." Zelenka was the third who knew of this hiding spot.

"Daddy, why was your tongue in her mouth?" Abigail asked. "You can spread germs like that."


	5. Chapter 5

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis, but the McKay children are of my creation

**Please leave reviews. They are always welcome.**

_**Chapter 5- Explanations**_

Jennifer hid her face in Rodney's shoulder, embarrassed that they been caught making out, "We are busted."

Rodney turned his head, his face and ears red, "You could have radioed us." This would be tough to explain to the children.

Radek rolled his eyes, "Neither of you have a radio." He pointed out. "Besides they refused to be quiet until I promised to take them to you. Especially this one," he pointed to Abigail.

Abigail curled up her lip and sneered at the Czech just like Rodney had done countless times, "Didn't you know it is rude to point?" She knew her father and uncle were right; he was a strange little man.

"Abigail," Rodney eyed his daughter.

"Daddy," she matched his tone. "What did I say? He started it. I think he was saying bad words in another language." Abigail glared at the short man.

"I did not," Zelenka glared back. "She started it. She was asking question after question. She asked me if I was stupid," he knew it sounded stupid to be arguing with a five year old. "That is the miniature version of you." Ever since the three children had come through the gate, the oldest girl had talked non-stop and made him feel like his ex-boss had never left.

"Thank you," Abigail took that as a compliment.

Jennifer stayed quiet during the exchange. It was true that Abigail looked like her when she was the girl's age, but her personality was definitely very much Rodney's. She sat up straight, linking her hand with her husband.

"You can go now, Radek," he glared at the other man. Rodney did not know what he was going to say to his children, "We need time alone."

Zelenka nodded, "Very well. Woolsey said you can use your old quarters for as long you decide to stay here. Jennifer, I hope you are feeling better."

"I am now. Thanks, Radek," Jennifer tucked some hair behind her ear with her free hand.

Arthur had kept his hands on Zoe's shoulders since they arrived. The little girl had been scared and in a bad mood since their father left them with Sam. He watched the woman that was with his dad and he knew there was something familiar about her, but he could not place it. "Dad, why are we here?" He could not take his eyes off the woman.

Jennifer noticed the way Arthur was watching her. It was as if there was some recognition, "Are you okay, Arthur?" she smiled at him.

"How do you know my name?" he looked between his father and the woman. "Do I know you?" Arthur gripped his sister's shoulders tighter, unsure about this woman.

Abigail was glad that Radek was gone. She tapped her foot and snapped her fingers in succession to get her father's attention. When he turned his head toward her she knew the man was not happy, "You and Uncle John are right, he is strange." She now turned her attention the woman who was holding her father's hand, "Is she your girlfriend or something? Cause when I saw Uncle John doing the same thing to a woman he said she was his girlfriend." The girl was not happy that her father broke his promise for this. "When Aunt Jeannie told you to get a girlfriend you yelled at her and called her bad names. You broke your promise to me. You broke your promise to Zoe."

Jennifer looked at her husband and figured that had to be why Rodney did not talk to his sister anymore. Jeannie must have wanted him to get on with his life, to move on for their children's sake and he refused.

Rodney looked at his children and growled at Abigail. The girl really knew which buttons to press and she always spoke what was on her mind, not caring what anyone else thought. She was truly his daughter, "Abigail," he yelled. "Don't forget who you are talking to." He was going to continue yelling until he felt Jennifer squeezed his arm. "I did not break my promise to you," he said in a stern voice as he stood up. The father was on the verge of losing his temper.

"Rodney, calm down," she reached to pull her husband back onto the bench.

His head was spinning rapidly and felt as if he was going to be sick. Rodney had not prepared himself to make introductions and he felt overwhelmed as he pulled at the hem of his shirt. This would have been much easier had he kept pictures of his wife around the house instead of in his bedroom.

Arthur had not taken his eyes of his mother. He knew that he recognized her from somewhere and he was trying hard to place it. After a few minutes of concentration he made an assumption as to who she was. Arthur could remember that she and his dad would tuck him in at night and tell him funny bedtime stories. The boy released his hold on Zoe's shoulders and went to his mother, "I missed you, mom." The son hugged his mother tightly. "You are our mother, right?" he needed confirmation that he was right with his assumption.

Jennifer was stunned, but happy that he remembered. He had been a few months shy of being four before the accident, "I missed you too, Arthur." A few tears escaped her eyes and she quickly tried to hide them. For her it had felt as if only a day or two had passed and even that was too much time to be away from her family, "Yes, I am."

After her brother released her, Zoe ran to her father and lifted her arms as if she wanted to be picked up, "I sorry," she said in baby- like tone. The young girl did not mean to bite her father, but she had reacted out of fear earlier. "Can we go home now?"

Rodney smiled as he watched the mother and son reunite. He felt a tear roll down his cheek as he saw Jennifer start to cry, "It is okay, Shorty." He picked his daughter up, "No more biting. I taught you better than that." For a moment the couple's eyes met and they smiled at each other. "I've got some things to so before we can go."

Abigail was unsure at her father's assertion that he had not broken his promise until Arthur hugged the woman and called her mom. She did have the same hair color and she was told that she looked a lot like her mother, but she had been too young to have any memories of her besides the stories told by her father. "But daddy said you died. Why did he lie?"

"He didn't lie."

"I didn't lie." Both spoke simultaneously.

"Mommy, Where have you been? Why did you leave us?" Abigail started to get angry.

Jennifer sighed and looked to Rodney, feeling overwhelmed that she could not give a straight answer, "I don't know. Your dad is going to figure that out."

"How can you not remember?" Arthur added.

"I don't know what happened," and that really scared her. Jennifer knew if anyone could figure it out that it would be Rodney. She was trying to figure out what to tell him about the child that Dr. Cole had told her about , but she knew that telling him that would break his heart and he had already been through so much. Once they learned where she had been the past three years then she would tell him. She wanted to enjoy these happy moments for as long as she could.

"I'll figure it out." Rodney promised all of them. "What's wrong, Zoe?" he asked as the girl had a death grip around his neck and her face hidden against his neck.

"I want to go home," she started to sob. "I don't like it here. It is scary. She is scary." Zoe did not understand what was going on. The woman was saying she was their mother and her siblings were going along with it. She did not need or want one as she had her daddy and that was enough for her.

The father started to run his daughter's back, "We can't go. I have figure out what happened to your mom. Don't you want to talk to her?" Rodney whispered to Zoe.

"NO!" Zoe said angrily. "Don't need her. Only want you," she blew her nose into his shirt. She did not want things to change as she liked her life as it was. The toddler did not want to have anyone else around to steal her father's attention away from her. She was two seconds from a complete temper tantrum. "HOME! NOW!" She yelled at the top of her lungs and tears poured down her face.

Rodney looked over at Jennifer and sighed. He had not expected this bad of a reaction and he hoped most of Zoe reaction was from her being tired. At least Arthur and Abigail were taking meeting their mother in stride and asking questions, "Sorry," he mouthed to her.

Jennifer felt as if her heart was tearing in two as Zoe said she did not need her and was in hysterics. She wanted to comfort the girl, but she did not think it would go over well. The mother thought she could at least try, "Zoe, why are scared of me?" she put her hand on the girl's back.

"Get off me!" Zoe screeched as she arched her back. "Only daddy," she clung tighter to her father's neck. "Go away. Don't need you."

Rodney choked as the grip around his neck got tight, "Zoe, you are going to have to let go. You are choking me," he needed to defuse this situation and quick. "Come on Shorty, what has gotten into you today?"

Zoe loosened the grip around his neck, but she would not stop crying, "Please daddy." Her lip quivered.

Rodney did not know what to do; he had to calm Zoe down, but he also needed to be there for Arthur and Abigail. "Zoe you have to calm down," he had never seen his daughter this upset.

Jennifer looked between the two and closed her eyes to blink away the tears. She put her hand on her husband's shoulder, "Do you want me to take Arthur and Abigail to the mess and get them something to eat?"

"Sure. If they are up to it," he thought it could give the three of them time to bond and get reacquainted. "Just don't stay out too late it is a school night," Rodney teased them. It was a school night, but obviously they would not be going tomorrow.

The two oldest both rolled their eyes, "You are such a dork, dad." Arthur sighed.

"Daddy dork," Abigail chimed in.

"Hey! Stop picking on me," he frowned and then turned toward Jennifer. "Meet you back at our quarters?"

Jennifer smirked as Arthur and Abigail teased their father, "But you're the most handsome dork I know." She cupped his cheek in her hand.

Zoe was growing tired of waiting and she started to cry again, "Come on daddy!" she drew out the last word as long as she could.

"Thanks darling. Love you too," he then turned to his two oldest. "You both behave for your mother. And Jennifer, if you start to not feel well you come back to the room." Rodney did not care if he was being overprotective.

She found him adorable when he was in overprotective mode, "We will be fine. Are you two ready to go?"

"Stop worrying so much, dad or you'll start to lose your hair like Uncle John," Arthur advised his father.

"See you later daddy," Abigail waved to him before she left with her mother and brother.

Once they were gone Zoe let out a sigh, "Good. They are gone."

Rodney was too angry with her to say much, "You are having a bath and then it is straight to bed with you. Hopefully you will be less of a brat after you get some sleep." He put her down, "You can walk now."

The girl was not happy and she could see her father wasn't either, "I not tired. Why do I need a mommy?"

"Because that is what a family is; a mommy, a daddy and children," the father explained.

"But we were a family without a mommy and Dr. Lam's baby doesn't have a daddy," Zoe challenged. She liked her family the way it was and did not want it disturbed, "We don't need anyone extra in our family."

"Is that so?" Rodney asked. "You told me earlier that you wanted me to have a baby. That would be adding someone to the family."

Zoe stamped her foot, "That is different."

"How so? Your mom has always been a part of this family. She might have been gone a few years, but it was not her choice to be away from us."

She was a little lost, "You told us she died in an accident."

Rodney nodded, "That is right. I thought she did, but something happened and she did not die. I have to figure out why."

Zoe was not totally convinced, "Is she nice?"

The father nodded, " Of course she is. She loves you, Zoe. Give your mom a chance. I know you were too young to remember but she used to sing you to sleep almost every night. You were quite the fussy baby."

"Really?" she asked. "Where were you when she was singing?"

"Yes, really. I was either watching her or trying to get your brother and sister to sleep." Rodney grinned at the memory. Bedtime was usually pretty chaotic as Arthur and Abigail refused to stay on their beds and he always ended up chasing them around the room.

Zoe tilted her head and looked at her father, "If she is mean can we send her away?"

"No, I am not sending her away. She is not going anywhere. You see this ring I wear," he held up his hand to show his wedding band. "Your mom has one just like it. When we gave these rings to each other we made a promise to be there for each other no matter what and I am not breaking that promise to her."

"Do I have to say I am sorry to her? She is not going to leave this time?" the child asked.

Rodney ruffled his daughter's hair, "None of us is going anywhere this time, Shorty." he stopped at the entrance to their quarters. "Okay, bath and them bedtime for you young lady. And yes, you are going to apologize when you wake up."

Zoe gave a dramatic sigh, "Yes daddy."

* * *

Jennifer lead her two children toward the mess hall, hoping there was something left to eat. She was glad that the halls were empty as she really did not feel like having people stare at her, "Are either of you hungry?"

"A little," Abigail looked around as they walked. "We had some pizza before we left home."

"But it has been a while. So I could use a little something to eat," Arthur added.

"I'm not going to get in trouble for a midnight snack like I did last night?" she asked.

"It is fine, Abigail," Jennifer assured the girl. "Do you get up often for midnight snacks?"

Abigail shook her head, "Sometimes, but last night was the first time I got caught."

Arthur rolled his eyes, "You should know better than that. You know dad gets up in the middle of the night sometimes and then doesn't go back to bed." He looked over to his mother, "He has nightmares. He pretends he doesn't but I know he does."

Jennifer smiled at her son, "You are everyone's protector, aren't you?"

The boy shrugged, "It is my job as the big brother and dad needs someone to look out for him sometimes."

"He forgets to eat when he is busy with work," she smiled fondly, knowing how many times it happened to the both of them.

Arthur nodded, "Sometimes."

Jennifer shook her head, "Some things never change. Both of us used to do it all the time."

"We used live here?" Abigail asked. "What is this place?"

"You and Zoe were born here and we lived here for quite a while before that," she replied. "This place is pretty amazing. What did your dad tell you about his work before?"

"I wasn't born here?" the boy asked.

Jennifer shook her head, "No. You were born in Colorado Springs. We moved back here when you were three months old."

"Did we live in the same house we do now?" Arthur further inquired.

Jennifer shook her head, "No. We lived in an apartment not too far from where your dad works now." She smiled at both children, glad she had the time alone with the two of them. "Is there anything else you want to know?"

Abigail shook her head, "Not really. Daddy used to tell us stories about you and him all the time."

"But he hasn't shown us a picture of you in a long time. He keeps those up in his bedroom," Arthur added.

"Used to?" Jennifer asked, wondering why Abigail used the past tense.

The girl sighed, "After he got into the fight with Aunt Jeannie is when he stopped."

The physician knew from past experience that her husband did not handle grief well and coupled with the fact that he told her he was on an antidepressant Jennifer started to wonder if he would have done something to harm himself if he did not have their children to look after.

"But I know he still loves you and misses you. Daddy told me after he busted me on my Oreo run last night."

Those words made the mother blush. Jennifer knew the statements to be true, but it felt nice to have come from one of her children. She was reminded of the quote _'__ Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.'_ and felt that sentiment fit Rodney exactly.

After an hour of talking, Jennifer felt that the three of them had made some progress in getting to know each other. She knew it would take much longer than a hour, but they were headed in the right direction. At least some of the tension had been eased, "Do you want to go check and see how your dad and Zoe are?"

Both of the children nodded. "Zoe is probably sleeping by now. It was past her bedtime before we came here," Arthur explained.

She recalled how much of a terror Arthur could be when he was overly tired and she hoped that Zoe would be in a good mood when she woke in the morning. Before leaving the mess, Jennifer picked two cups of blue jello in case Rodney was hungry.


	6. Chapter 6

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis, but the McKay children are of my creation

**Please leave reviews. They are always welcome.**

**Chapter 6- A Bedtime Story and a Birthday Gift**

When Jennifer and the children entered their quarters they found Rodney and Zoe asleep on the couch. Jennifer could only smile at the site before her. It was small moments like this that made being a parent worth it all.

"Told you she would be asleep," Abigail looked around the room. "Are we all going to fit in here?"

Jennifer nodded, "We used to. So what time is your bedtime?"

The two children looked at each, grinning as if they were up to something. Their father was asleep and they were sure they could get away with staying up past their bedtime.

"Don't even think of it," a voice came from the couch. "Bedtime is now you two," Rodney opened his eyes and pointed at Arthur and Abigail.

Abigail sighed, "How did you do that?"

"Superior mental intellect," he pointed to his head. "Or I wasn't asleep. Is that for me?" Rodney asked, seeing the cups of blue jello in her hand.

"Of course," Jennifer smiled. "Thought you might be hungry. How's she doing?" she asked about the sleeping girl.

"Fell asleep right after her bath," Rodney stretched. "She was overtired," he carefully got up as to not disturb the sleeping child.

Jennifer tossed over one of the jello cups, "Looks like you could use this."

"Thanks," Rodney said as he caught the cup of the blue semi-solid. "You two change for bed. Your bags are in the other room."

Both of the children pouted and sighed, "Do we have to? We are not going to school tomorrow." Arthur tried to give his best sad face.

The father shook his head, "That is not going to work. I'm sure we are all tired and need some sleep. So get ready for bed and I will be in a few minutes."

"Can you tell us a bedtime story like you used to?" the boy asked of both his parents.

Jennifer and Rodney exchanged looks and nodded.

"You remember that?" the mother asked her son. Jennifer was amazed that Arthur remembered. It was odd the things children remembered.

"Kind of. So can you tell us a story?" Arthur asked again.

"Sure. As long as both of you get changed now," Rodney answered. It had been a while since he had told them a bedtime story and he thought it could be fun.

Arthur and Abigail both nodded and ran off to the other room to change. The boy did not have a clear recollection of the stories, but something told him that they were always interesting.

Jennifer felt a little unsure as the two went off to change, "We can do this, right?" Last time she had told her son a story he was three and she wondered if a seven year old would feel the same way about a bedtime story.

Rodney waved his hand in front of him, "We're the parents they have to listen to us. They always listen to me." A smug grin formed. "They are the ones asking for the story so they can't complain."

She laughed, doubting they listened all the time. "We should get changed too," it was a comfort that things were normal on the surface. Jennifer knew it would take a while before life would be able to truly go back to normal, if ever. "Just one problem," she pointed to herself.

"You don't have a change of clothes," he knew he had forgotten something. "I left your clothes at the house. I didn't think to bring anything," Rodney never had it in him to throw any of her possessions away. They were all in an extra bedroom in the house that he kept locked at all times. "I have an extra pair of boxers and a t-shirt," he offered.

Jennifer grinned, "I always had a thing for your clothes." It was a habit she got into early in their relationship when Rodney went on missions that took him away overnight, that wearing one of his shirts helped make it seem less lonely.

"Ah ha, so the truth finally comes out after all this time," Rodney laughed as he threw the boxers and shirt at her, hitting Jennifer in the face.

"Sorry the truth had to come out like this," she teased. "So now you know the truth of why I married you."

He shrugged, "Oh, well the truth eventually had to come out. Guess all good things must come to an end. Goodbye," Rodney waved and turned toward the door. He did not get far before he started laughing.

Jennifer shook her head and laughed as well. They had made a promise early in their marriage to make sure there was lots of laughter in their life. With both of their senses of humor there was a lot of laughing, "Over here now," she beckoned Rodney to her.

"And why should I?" Rodney asked with an impish smirk as he stood his ground. He was relieved that they had easily fallen back into the way they had always acted with each other. He knew it would be much more difficult for the children to get used to having their mother back in their lives.

"Because we have to tell a story to our children, darling," she reminded him, knowing he was only joking with her.

He smirked, "The little bratlets." Rodney looked at Jennifer, who was now wearing his clothes. "They fit you much better now. Can your check on the other two? It has been too quiet in that room. I'll bring Zoe in."

"Quiet isn't good," Jennifer shook her head. The two oldest had to be up to something. She made her way to the other room and found Abigail sitting on the bed and Arthur was nowhere in sight, "Where is your brother?"

Abigail shrugged, "I told him to go in the closet when I changed. I just haven't told him it is time to come out." The girl loved to play tricks on her brother. He never fought back so she was able to get away with a lot.

Arthur was not happy when he overheard Abigail and his mother, "You stupid brat." He came out of the closet, his eyes glaring. If looks could kill, Abigail would be dead.

"Hey, that is not nice, both of you," Jennifer scolded the two children. It was going to take a while to get used to parenting a five and seven year old.

"What are the two of you up to?" Rodney asked as he entered the room, carrying a still sleeping Zoe.

Arthur growled and pointed to Abigail, "She made go into the closest to change into my pajamas and _forgot _to tell me she was done," he emphasized the forgot part to let him know that she really did not forget.

"Abigail!" the father glared at his daughter. "I seriously don't know what I am going to do with you sometimes."

"What? I really forgot," Abigail batted her eyes, hoping her father would believe her.

"Yeah, right. In bed now. We will talk about this when you wake up," Rodney put Zoe in the middle of the bed so that the older children could get on either side of her.

"What kind of story are you going to tell us?" Arthur asked as he climbed into bed and stuck his tongue out at Abigail. "Do we really have share a bed? I don't want to share with her."

"Yes you have to share unless you want to sleep on the floor," Rodney told his oldest. The two beds and crib that had been in the room had been brought back to Earth when they left three years ago and it now had been replaced by a king sized bed that matched the one in the main room.

"Fine," the boy rolled his eyes.

Abigail started to laugh at her brother.

"Do you want to sleep in the closet?" Rodney asked the girl. This was the downfall of having kids close in age, the constant bickering. He did not get to experience it since Jeannie was eight years younger than he was.

The girl pouted and made an annoyed sound, "I'll behave."

Rodney looked at his wife, "This is a common occurrence. You get used to it after a while," he sat down on the arm of the chair that Jennifer had just sat in. "Zoe sleeps like a rock. The house could explode around her and she will not wake up."

"What are story are you going to tell us?" Abigail asked, growing more impatient by the minute.

Jennifer put her on Rodney's knee, "How about the time the handsome geeky prince saved the beautiful princess of a far off land from the three trolls and the freezing machine?" _Better known as our first date._

He smiled, "Always my favorite story to tell."

The mother began, "We begin our tale in a crowded hall with many people talking and making much noise. In a small corner of the room the handsome geek prince sat across from the princess, trying to build up the courage to ask her out. You see the prince had been invited to a party hosted by one of the prince's school companions and he did not want to go alone."

"Hey," Rodney interrupted. "What she forgot to mention is that many of the prince's associates had these wrong ideas about him and if he were to show up at this party with a woman as beautiful as the princess they would not think he was a total loser."

"The prince, however, tried to come up with many excuses as to why the princess should join him instead of just asking if she wanted to go with him," Jennifer continued.

"Did the prince ask the princess to go to the party?" Abigail asked.

"Eventually he did and she said yes. Had the prince know it would have been that easy he would not have spent ten minutes making a fool of himself in front the princess," Rodney rested his hand on his wife's. Their first date was a favorite story to retell. It had drama, action and most importantly a happy ending.

Arthur smiled as he listened, "What happened next?"

"The prince's school companion sent a plane to pick the princess and princess up to fly them to his secret hideout in the desert. When the prince and princess arrived at the party the prince headed to the food table. The prince had a great love for food," Jennifer finished her part with a smirk.

"That is because the prince has low blood sugar and he needs to eat regularly," Rodney pointed out, pinching the top of her hand discreetly. "But he also had a great love for the princess who looked very beautiful that day."

"Suck up," Jennifer mouthed to Rodney. "And the prince also looked very handsome that day too."

"You see the prince just wanted some time alone with the princess when two mean and hideous trolls disturbed them. One of the trolls always wore these ugly bow ties and the other made little children cry by declassifying planets. The two trolls thought it would be fun to make fun of the prince and make him look dumb in front of the princess," he looked to the woman to pick up where he left off.

"But the princess did not believe the two trolls as she knew the prince was much smarter than them even if the troll were well known through all the lands. The princess was not happy when she heard the two trolls talking in disbelief that the princess was the prince's date to the party. She wanted to show them right that she was the prince's date, but she was not sure how the prince would react to a kiss in front of all the people at the party."

"She did?" Rodney asked in surprised. "I…er the prince never knew that." To this day he never knew that, but they had made up for it on the plane ride back to the SGC.

"Well a princess is allowed to have her secrets. Getting back to the story," Jennifer swatted at his arm.

"Yes, very well. Carrying on… Now the prince's school companion had a big announcement to make or so he said. The prince doubted it was anything really important because the prince was always one step ahead of his companion in school." Rodney started making grand gestures with his hands. He still got worked up over what happened that day. "That is when the prince found out that his school companion had turned into a thieving troll."

Jennifer held up her hand, "A thieving troll with a massive ego. He had this..." she rolled her eyes as her husband interrupted.

"The troll thought he could create this machine that could cool the earth, but the troll had stole the idea from a project the prince had worked on a few years prior with his evil vile sister. Ouch," he yelped as he felt a hard pinch to his side. He wondered what he did to deserve the pinch, but he decided not to question it when he saw the anger on Jennifer's face.

Abigail was starting fall asleep, but she was alert when her father jumped, "Why did you stop? Wouldn't the prince's sister also be a princess too?"

Rodney shook her head, "Not exactly. She was more of a mean haggard wit..." a glare from the glowering woman stopped him from saying more. "The prince disowned his sister and she is no longer a princess." He glared back as if to say happy now.

Arthur yawned and covered his mouth, "Why would the troll steal from the prince?" he was sure he had heard this story before and wondered if there were any truth to the tale being weaved.

"Because he is a thieving troll and that is what thieves do," the father said as if it was obvious.

"The prince tried to warn everyone that turning on the machine the troll made could be dangerous, but he could not give much detail about the exact dangers of it." _And he is being a naughty prince now, bad mouthing his sister even if the children had no idea._ Jennifer shook her head and placed her hand on Rodney back, "The prince was in a very foul mood and only the princess was able to keep him from causing any more trouble."

"A bewitching princess that she is," Rodney interrupted for a second.

Jennifer shook her head and laughed slightly, "Then the prince had the idea to search the thieving troll's computer to see how he got a hold of the prince's work. Little did anyone know that everything was about to get very very bad."

"You see the machine that the troll turned on against the prince's objections would not shut off. The troll thought someone had sabotaged his machine," he shook his head in disgust.

"What did the machine do?" Abigail asked. They had never told her what it did.

The physician looked at her husband, "That is all you."

"Well..."Rodney started. "To put it simply it is like an air conditioner for the earth. It pulls in air from around it and cools it. That is not the problem. The problem comes from the energy needed to power the device. It takes an insane amount of power to run."

"However, the prince and princess were not aware that there was video surveillance in the troll's office and the two would get the blame for sabotaging the machine. The prince then presented proof that the basic idea of the machine was his and that the troll changed certain pieces around, thinking that he could get around the problems the prince had when he worked on his similar project. Then the troll and his boss knew they needed the prince's help to get the machine turned off. The hideout was getting colder and colder."

Rodney smirked, "It was another chance for the prince to save the day and prove to the people who mocked him that he was better than them. By now everyone was shivering from the cold when a bolt of freeze lighting arched across the room and hit someone. Everyone knew they were in trouble and if the device was not turned off soon that people would start to perish."

"Guess being humble is out of the question?" Jennifer bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.

"That went out the window a long time ago," he retorted with his signature smug smirk. "The princess came up with this oh-so brilliant idea to ask the other people at the party for help. That did not go over very well and many little fights broke out. Too many people thought they knew the answers. Big egos butting heads. It was not a pretty site."

Jennifer jumped in, "That was until the princess told them they were acting like a bunch of sixth graders and they needed to work together. The bow tie wearing troll tried to suck up to the princess, but she put in him his proper place. The princess never liked it when people sucked up for the wrong reasons."

Rodney smirked, "The princess was delusional to think a room a egotistical scientists could work together. Her plan worked only for the briefest of moments, but then the prince, the thieving troll, his boss and the bow tie wearing troll retreated to a lab so they could work on the problem. The prince was the only one who had any experience in working with the kind of technology that the troll messed around with."

It was time for another eye roll. _I'll give you delusional._ Jennifer would have to repay the favor later. "The princess and the prince thought it would be wise to call in the king's cavalry to assist, but the phones were not working. Shielding around the hideout stopped any cell phone calls from getting in or out and the troll's boss cut the land lines. There was no way to call for help."

The physicist smirked, "The thieving troll noticed that part of the shield was starting to weaken and he offered to run to make a call, but the princess had a better idea that she should make the call since she had the number to call in the king's cavalry and beside the troll needed to be kept around so the prince could...could yell at him and make sure he was there so he could see how things should be done. The prince was rarely if ever wrong."

"Before the princess left she took a radio with her so she could let the prince know when she got through to the king's cavalry."

"You forgot one important part. The part where the prince gave the freezing princess his jacket so she wouldn't be as cold," he added with a smirk.

Jennifer laughed slightly, "Yes, that is a very important part. The prince acting all chivalrous. Now getting back to the story, " she pointed at Rodney. "Stop sidetracking us."

"The rest of the story is in your very capable hands, my dear." Rodney would keep his mouth shut for the rest of the story unless he felt compelled to add his comments.

Arthur laughed at his parent's interaction, "You two are funny together. Were you always like this?"

The parents looked at one another and both nodded, "Pretty much." The words were spoke in almost unison from both of them.

Abigail pouted, "Can we get back to the story? Did the prince get the device turned off? Did the princess get through to the cavalry?"

"Ah, silence my little devil. The story is not yet complete. Have patience my little one and all will be revealed," he held a finger up to his lips as to silence the child.

"Dork," she muttered under her breath.

"Where were we?" Jennifer cleared her throat. "The princess had a hard time getting a call through and when she finally did the signal was not strong enough for the cavalry to hear the call. Little did she know that while she was trying to make the call that the prince and the troll where turning up the power on the machine and it caused more of the freeze lightening to occur and one of the bolts hit a water pipe near where the princess was standing. The pipe broke, soaking the princess with very cold water. This was very bad because her body temperature dropped lower than it already was and she radioed to prince to let him know what had happened. The prince had said that the troll would send guards to rescue her. Meanwhile the shielding of the hideout had failed and was causing severe weather outside and if the device was not turned off the weather would spread to the rest of the world. The prince then came up with an idea of how to turn off the device, but just as he was almost done the princess radioed him again and hold him help had not yet arrived."

Rodney could not help, but to jump in, "And this angered the prince very much and he yelled at the troll as to why the guards did not rescue the princess. The troll told him that the guards could not get to her and that they were the only ones close enough to get to save her. The prince did not even give finishing his plan a second thought, he knew saving the princess was more important. The troll tried to stop him, saying that he needed the prince to stay to finish the plan. The prince told him that he would have to do it himself or the princess would die. The troll admitted that the prince was smarter than him, but this did not change the prince's mind and he ran off to save the princess. In order to get to her the prince had to break down a mighty door with a very big axe. The prince's heart almost stopped when he got to the princess and realized she was not breathing. He carried her out of the room to safety and started to breathe life into her. The prince was scared that the princess would not wake up, but finally she opened her eyes and started to breathe again."

Jennifer knew it was her turn to take over the story again, "When the princess opened her eyes the first thing she saw was the worried face of the prince. She was very grateful that he had saved her. The princess then told the prince that she loved him. She then kissed him and then they lived happily ever after. The end."

Abigail scrunched up her nose, "Isn't the prince supposed to be the one to kiss the princess and not the other way around?"

"Well, the prince sometimes needed a little push where the princess was concerned," the princess of the story said with a smirk.

"Now it is bed time for both of you," Rodney stood up. _And bedtime for me._ "We will be in the next room if you need anything."

"Night," Abigail said with a yawn. She had almost fallen asleep during the story, but she had fought to hear the end of it.

"See you later," Arthur added as he waved to both his parents.

Jennifer followed Rodney back to the main room, "Is it bed time for the prince too?" she asked as she saw him yawn.

He nodded, rubbing the back of his neck, "I've been up for almost twenty-four hours straight and the old man needed his sleep."

The wide awake woman sat on the edge of the bed. Even though she was not ready for bed, Jennifer would welcome having the feel of his arms around her and she knew it was something he would enjoy as well.

"Were you up working late last night?" she asked as both of them crawled under the covers.

Rodney shook his head as he placed his glasses on the night stand next to him, "Just trouble sleeping." He did not want to worry her with the nightmares he had since her supposed death. "Not really a big deal," the drowsy man slid his arms around his wife and sighed contently. Rodney never thought he would fall asleep like this again.

Jennifer laid in his arms for several minutes and heard his breathing begin to even out. She knew he was close to falling asleep, but there was something nagging at her and she would not be able to relax until she let it out. "What do you think the device they found at the outpost does?"

He had been half-asleep when the question was asked, "Huh? Um. I might have an idea or two." Rodney really wanted to sleep and she was making that difficult. His brain had been tossing around ideas since he arrived back on Atlantis and there were two that stuck out.

She turned to face him, wanting to look into his eyes, but they were closed at the moment, "What are they?" It still felt the same as it did before when she nuzzled her face into his chest.

"Time dilation or stasis. Explains why the explosion is the last thing you remember...and why you woke up there," Rodney barely got the words out before he fell asleep.

Jennifer shook her head watching him fall asleep, barely getting the words. She hoped he was right with his assumptions or there would be a lot for her to explain about her absence and those things she did not have answers for. "Sweet dreams, my prince," the newly alive wife kissed her husband as he slept.

Just as she was about to doze off the body next to Jennifer start to toss and turn in its sleep and moan as if in pain. Jennifer figured this had to be one of nightmares Arthur was talking about. "Shh, it's going to be okay," she soothed the sleeping man by rubbing his back. It took several minutes before Rodney slipped back into a restful sleep. "That's better," she whispered before joining him in sleep.

_

* * *

_

_Several hours later_

Zoe woke up and found herself surrounded by her brother and sister, both of whom were still asleep. The birthday girl knew better to disturb either of them while they slept unless she wanted to get smacked upside the head. Her father was the next one she could bother and she hoped that he was not with that woman from last night. The four year old did not want to have to apologize for being a brat the previous day and frowned when she saw her in bed with her father. His head was on the woman's knee and she was playing with his hair.

"I know you are awake," Jennifer whispered, pressing her lips to Rodney's ear.

"I am not awake," he replied with a small smirk. Rodney was enjoying himself too much to want her to stop.

"We have company," she looked up to see Zoe standing at the doorway to the bedroom. "Morning, Zoe. Happy birthday."

"Hey, shorty," he sat up and reached for his glasses. "My, my isn't someone getting old today?"

Zoe laughed, "I am not old. I'm only four." She made her way to the bed and jumped on it. "What are we doing today? Can we have pancakes for breakfast?"

Rodney laughed, "Um, I think it is a little late for breakfast here, but I think I am still owed a few favors from last time we were here. Come here. Give me a hug"

The girl crawled up the bed and hugged her father, "Love you daddy."

"Love you too, shorty," he smiled. "Are you in a better mood today?"

Zoe made a face and rolled her eyes, "Yeah," she knew what the look from her father meant and she turned to the woman next to her, "I sorry for being a brat." The child was sincere in her apology.

Jennifer smiled, "It is okay, Zoe." She knew this was going to be a difficult adjustment for all of them.

"Do I get presents now?" the young girl asked innocently.

Rodney winced, knowing the gifts he had brought her were left at the house. "They are at home. You will get them when we get back."

"Wait," the mother halted the tears that she saw about to fall. Jennifer reached around her neck and unclasped the necklace she was wearing. "Your dad gave this to me after your brother was born and I would like you to have it," she put the necklace on the girl. Rodney had said she was a girly girl and thought she would like it.

The man let out a sigh of relief. It was a good save by Jennifer as she had adverted a full meltdown from their youngest.

"It pretty," Zoe looked at the necklace. "What are these?" she asked about the four charms hanging from it.

"They are charms that have each of your birthstones. The green one is an emerald which is your birthstone. The blue one is turquoise for Abigail and the clear one is a diamond for Arthur," she explained, not paying attention to the second diamond charm.

"Oh," the girl looked at the charms. "Why are there two clear ones?" Zoe asked.

The parents exchanged a look, "We will tell you about it when you get older." Rodney said quietly as he looked down at his hands.

Jennifer forced a smile, "How would like to spend the day with me? We can do the girly things you don't get to do with your dad." She was sure that they borrow some things from the women on the base.

Zoe was unsure, but the idea of doing girly things sounded fun, "Like what?" a small smile started to form.

"I can do your hair and can paint your nails." It would give the two time to bond.

"Oh," Zoe's eyes lit up. "That sounds fun. Can I daddy?" she turned to ask him.

"You don't have to ask me. You two have fun," he knew the two of them needed this. "The three of us will be fine. Will borrow a laptop and some movies. Then get some popcorn and rest here. So yeah, we will be fine. You two need girl time. On the plus side I get to go back to bed," Rodney smirked, knowing his two oldest would be asleep for a while longer. They liked to sleep as much as he did; they were definitely McKays and Zoe most times had her mother's calm demeanor.

"Of course you do," Jennifer shook her head. "The three of you stay out of trouble."

"We always do," he replied, biting the inside of his cheek as he got back under the covers.

"See you when we get back. I love you," she leaned over and kissed her husband's cheek

"Love you too, daddy." Zoe kissed her father's other cheek.

"Eww. Double kisses," Rodney pretended to be disgusted.

Jennifer rolled her eyes, "Don't blow up the place while we are gone. And I'll give you eww," she lightly punched his shoulder.

"It was only one time and the fire wasn't that large. We only had to switch rooms for two nights. Okay I said too much and I am going back to bed now," he closed his eyes before he got in any more trouble.

Zoe shook her head, "He does this a lot."

Jennifer nodded, "For about as long as I know him. Let's get changed and leave him before he cause more trouble."

"Okay," the girl reached out to take her mother's hand.


	7. Chapter 7

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis, but the McKay children are of my creation

**Please leave reviews. They are always welcome. Thanks to those who have reviewed so far.**

**Chapter 7- Reacquainting**

Rodney left his quarters before any of the other inhabitants were awake. He knew if they had been awake one of them would have begged him to stay as what had happened for the past few days. The physicist had been staring at the device for almost two hours and had made no headway. "Come on," he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Here let me help with that," a pair of hands started to massage the stiff neck.

"That's nice," he leaned back. "Where are the kids?"

Jennifer laughed, "Abigail is shadowing Radek probably annoying the hell out of him in the jumper bay."

Rodney smirked, "Someone had to pick up where I left off." The father was almost proud of that even though he should be teaching her better. It was a bump to his ego that one of his children was exactly like him.

"Poor Radek. He really does not know what he is in for," she wrapped her arms around his waist. Jennifer was grateful for backless stools that allowed her to get close and rest her forehead against the back of his head, "Hmm. How much coffee did you have this morning? I can smell it on your breath from here."

He breathed into his hand to see if his breath smelled, "It doesn't stink. I only had two cups. What about Arthur and Zoe? Where are they?"

"Lorne took them on a tour of the mainland in a jumper. So the kids are occupied until Abigail and Radek kill each other," Jennifer shook her head. She knew it would not be a pretty scene, but she was amused by it.

"I'll bet a month's pay that our daughter will win," Rodney turned his attention back to the task at hand despite that his wife's arms were still around him, a slight distraction at this time.

"Rodney!" she exclaimed. "Behave." Jennifer tried to keep a straight face, but burst into laughter a moment later.

"See you think I am right or you wouldn't be laughing," he said smugly.

"That's not the point," she did not want to laugh and had to distract herself by distracting her husband. Jennifer pressed her lips to the back of his neck, alternating between sucking and kissing the area. She knew if she kept this up that it would eventually leave a mark. It was the one thing she could do to him short of making love that made him lose all coherent thought.

"Umm. Hey. No fair," Rodney pouted as he lost the ability to form full sentences. He pointed to the device in front of him. "Work. Evil you are." It felt amazing what she was doing and in the time since she her return the couple did get much time to be alone since the children wanted to spend as much time as they could with both of them.

"You don't like what I am doing?" she paused momentarily to speak before she returned to the assault on his neck.

Rodney let out a soft moan. She knew that he enjoyed when she sucked on his neck like that even if he complained about the mark it would leave. "Don't leave a mark," he whined.

Jennifer did not respond for several moments until she finally released his neck, "Too late," she smiled as she ran a finger over the reddened patch of skin and then her hands through his hair.

He felt the nerves in his scalp tingle, her touch still had the same effect on him. It was as if she was never gone. "You came here to distract me, didn't you?" Rodney asked.

"Maybe just a little," she admitted shyly. "Is it working?"

"You should know better," he spun the stool around to face his wife. "Let's see if I remember how to do this?"

Jennifer cupped his face between her hands, "Been a while, has it?"

Rodney face got serious and he met her eyes, "There was nobody else. I couldn't bring myself to move on. I could never get you out of my heart."

"Oh, Rodney. True love never dies," she sighed before pressing her lips to his. Jennifer had convinced herself that his hypothesis that the device had to do with time dilation or stasis. Holding on to that fact was the only thing that helped her hold it together.

He pulled his wife onto his lap and did not break the kiss. A few breathless minutes later they pulled away, foreheads resting against each other, "I feel a little dizzy," Rodney said with a little laugh.

"Me too," she admitted. The coffee stench on his breath was a little bothersome, but her need to be with him overrode it. Usually two cups did not bother her, maybe it was a new blend. "Think we should move this to our room," Jennifer traced Rodney's lips with her finger.

"Okay," he said as if in some kind of trance.

A hour and half later the couple laid next to each other with infectious grins. It had taken no time for the couple to get reacquainted and re-explore each other.

"My back is going to be so sore later," he said with a slight whine.

"Is that a complaint?" Jennifer asked as she laced her hand with his and brought it to her lips.

"Just a small one," Rodney laughed. "But the pain will be very well worth it. God, you are so beautiful," he soaked in the her naked form and let his hand run up and down her back.

She looked at her husband with a content look on her face. "Guess you remembered how to do after all and very well I might add," Jennifer stretched out. She was going to be sore later as well. "And it helps when you have the right person."

"I would hope that I am the right person," he moved and started to place a trail of kisses down her back, starting at the base of her neck.

"You are definitely the right one," she closed her eyes, enjoying what he was doing. Jennifer was still coming down from the multiple highs her husband had brought her to and she felt her skin tingle with each kiss placed on her slick skin.

Rondey continued until he reached her hip and saw something there, "Hmm... interesting."

"Interesting?" she asked. "I don't think that is something I want to hear when you are about to do whatever it is you are about to do down there."

Rodney shook his head, "You haven't been in jumper recently, have you?"

"Not since I got back, why?" she was curious what he was getting at.

He furrowed his eyebrows, "Because there is a bruise here. It is almost healed, but it looks like the one you got from the jumper after the Christmas party... Just before."

"You mean when you slammed my back in the control console of the jumper?"

Rodney frowned, "We both were a little drunk..."

"And you thought that you could fly to the mainland, but you couldn't," she tried to look at the mark he was talking about. The sex could get rough at times and both had received bruises or other marks at one time or another. "Could it be the same bruise you caused?"

He pondered on it for a moment, "The mark was pretty distinctive and it is in the same spot." Rodney chewed his lip.

"How do you remember after all this time?" she looked to him for answers.

"I have the day of the explosion imprinted in my mind and we were fighting about it just before it happened," he sighed heavily. As much as he tried to suppress the memory of that day he could not.

"A bruise does not take three years to heal. A couple of weeks maybe but not years. So how could it be the same mark?" Jennifer was trying to keep up with his thought pattern.

"Go with me here. If it's the same bruise it will bolster my idea about time dilation or stasis. We made love in that jumper five days before the explosion and it has been a week since you came back. It would also explain why the explosion is the last thing you remembered and why you woke up at the same location. I mean it is the only logical explanation. If it had been something else; wouldn't you have woken up some place else?" Rodney tried to make sense as he babbled. "So all there is left is to figure out which of my two ideas is correct."

She smiled as he always had a way of making her feel better, "Come back here." If he was right Jennifer knew she would have nothing to worry about. There would be no missing memories for her to recover; the past three years did not exist for her. It was still a hard thought to swallow but it was better than the alternative. And how often was Rodney really wrong about something?

"What?" he asked, laying his head next to his wife's.

"Thank you," the physician caressed his cheek and gently kissed him.

Rodney looked puzzled, "For what?"

"For being you. For loving me, but mostly for just being you," Jennifer moved to cuddle against him.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" he asked, kissing the top of her heading and wondering where the change on mood came from.

"It's something Amanda said when I first woke up?" she could see the confusion in his face. He did not know who she was talking about. "Dr. Cole, Rodney."

"What did she say? Are you sure you are okay?" The concern took center stage again.

"I'm fine," she shook her head and had to question how long the super-over protectiveness would last. Then again she did not have her spouse return from the dead after three years. "She said according to a test she ran it showed that I had given birth in the past year. Before you told me about your time dilation/stasis idea, I was really worried about what happened in those years. Now hearing you are so sure about this idea I cannot tell you how relieved I am because then..."

"It means that child has to be Zoe. She was only seven months when it happened," Rodney frowned slightly. Even with Jennifer's return he had difficulty talking about that day.

"But what if it isn't..." Jennifer was silenced by Rodney's fingers pressing against her lips.

"None of that," he shook his head. "How about a shower and then get something to eat?" Rodney did not want a perfect morning to be ruined by negativity.

"I'm not sure if showering together would be wise if you want to eat anytime soon," she pointed out.

"Now who is the one complaining?" he countered with a cheeky grin.

Jennifer shook her head, "It was more of a warning than a complaint. Let's go," she cocked her head toward the bathroom.

* * *

Abigail sat on the back bench in the jumper that Radek was working on, watching him intently, "Are you sure you know what you are going?" she drawled out her voice for the highest annoyance possible.

Radek muttered to himself. He regretted ever saying yes when Jennifer asked if Abigail could spend part of the day with him. The Czech only said yes because she asked, had Rodney asked he would have had said no. All the sighing and noises the girl made it feel like his former boss was looking over his shoulder. "I know what I am doing. I wouldn't have this job if I didn't," he sounded very annoyed.

"You only have this job because my daddy stopped working here," she kicked the paneling under the seat.

"But it was his choice to leave. Why didn't you go with the others for a ride in one of these?" Radek worked hard not to lose his temper with the child. He had to remind himself that she was a child, but the child was the female child version of her father.

Abigail shrugged, "I don't like flying. Daddy said he had work to do and he didn't want to be bothered, but I think mommy is going to bother him anyway. Do you think he is going to yell at her like he usually does when I disturb his work?"

Radek bit the inside of his cheek. This was not a discussion he was going to have with a five year old as he was pretty sure what the woman had in mind for disturbing Rodney. "I'm sure she will be fine."

"How do you make this thing work?" the girl started to head to the front of the jumper.

"You need to have a special gene to make one of these fly," he did not look up from the tablet he was working on.

Abigail smirked, "Do I have the gene?"

"I don't know. I am not sure if you were ever tested," Radek looked to see what the child was doing. "You know what a gene is?"

"Like in genetics. I am five. Of course I know this stuff," the girl rolled her eyes as if all five year olds should know these things.

"There are not many children your age who know about genetics," the engineer pointed out, but he thought the girl picked up the genius genes from both her parents.

"So," Abigail shrugged "What about you? Do you have the gene? Does anybody I know have it?" she asked, sitting in one of the front seats.

The annoyed man rolled his eyes, "I don't have it. Your father, John and Carson do."

"What does this do?" the girl was by the control panel and she put her hands on the steering mechanism. The jumper suddenly came to life and rose several feet off the ground.

It took Radek several seconds to realize what she had done, "Get away from that," he yelled, realizing the girl had to have the ATA gene.

"Woah," Abigail jumped back when she saw what was happening. "Did I do that?" she was half amazed and half scared that she had done that. The jumped slammed hard to the ground.

Radek cursed loudly in his native tongue when the jumper hit the ground, "Are you crazy? You could have killed us. Why must you go around touching things? Little people like you like to break things." his overboard reaction was out of fright.

Ronon and Teyla were exiting the jumper they had just arrived in when they heard the loud crash and ran to investigate. They could hear Radek yelling from across the jumper bay and Ronan started to laugh, "It took him all this time to start sounding like McKay." It was a nice welcome back after the week and half long mission.

Teyla nodded in agreement, "So it would seem. Speaking of which have you spoken to Rodney or John recently?"

The burly man shook his head, "Not in six months. Always seem to be off world when Rodney was checking in with that project he has been working on."

"Same here," she made her way to the jumper to see who the victim of the scientist's assault was. Teyla was shocked to see that it was a child who, remarkably was unfazed by the tirade.

"You know it is not nice to curse. A different language or not. How was I supposed to know this thing was going to move when I touched it?" Abigail crossed her arms over her chest and huffed loudly.

"Is everything alright in here, Radek?" Teyla asked diplomatically.

"He is just mad because he can't fly this tin can," the girl rolled her eyes and looked over at the new arrivals.

Ronon stood back, amused by the scene in front of his. The little girl had a lot of attitude and it was funny to him, "Babysitting part of your duties now?"

Radek looked frazzled, "It's like he never left," he pointed to the demon spawn. "I'm doing it has a favor, but I am ready to ship this one back to her parents."

"You wouldn't. Ship me? What am I a piece of cargo?"

"I would. Just you try me."

"Weird little man. Sloppy leftovers. Incompetent boob."

"That's it," Zelenka lost his cool. "You are a wicked little girl."

"Rodney's here?" Ronan asked the scientist. There was only one place a child could pick up an attitude like that.

Radek nodded, "He is and Woolsey is going to want to be re-briefed him on what happened on M32-254."

"Why? That happened a long time ago. It where you know..." Ronon did not want to finish the sentence in front of the girl.

Abigail rolled her eyes. Adults could be such pains, "You mean the place where you all thought my mom died, but everyone is just figuring out she didn't and you are leaving it to my dad to find out what happened."

Teyla looked at the precocious child with wide eyes. She did not sound like any five year old she had ever met and was even more shocked to hear that Jennifer was alive. "When did this happen?"

"The day after you left on the mission and Rodney came with them the day after that," the scientist explained.

Ronon stood back, taking everything in. He knew there is no way anyone could have survived that explosion. "How is that possible? I was there."

Abigail looked at the burly man, "You must be Chewie." She knew from her uncle that there he was the other on there that day.

The Satedan had to laugh, "Sheppard teach you that? You must be Abigail." He thought children that had Rodney and John as role models would be interesting characters.

The girl nodded, "He did and I am. Uncle John also said that if I enjoyed putting thing in his hair that I would enjoy yours more," he pointed to his hair. It looked like he was right. She then turned to the woman, "That makes you Teyla?"

"That is correct," Teyla said with a nod. The last time she had seen her Earthling teammates had been the memorial service they had for Jennifer. She had talked to John and Rodney often over the radio often for the first year, but it grew more infrequent as time passed.

"I've heard stories about you two," Abigail pointed at her father's former teammates. "I should tell you about the ones I've heard about little guy over there," she nodded to Zelenka.

Radek huffed. It was kids like her and his sister's that he made him decide to never have them for himself. He tapped on his headset, "Rodney, come in."

The girl pouted and stomped her foot, knowing he was going to rat her out to her father and she was going to get in some serious trouble.

"Yes, Radek. What is it?" Rodney sounded annoyed to be disturbed.

"I have something yours that needs to be returned. She almost killed me a little while ago."

"Did not. It was an accident," Abigail yelled loud enough to make sure her father heard her.

"What happened?" he said, looking at Jennifer who sat across from him in the mess hall. "She won," he mouthed to her. Rodney wanted to hear the story before he thought if punishment was needed.

"It seems like your charming personality is not the only thing that you passed on to her. She almost put a jumper into orbit. Maybe it was about six feet off the ground," the chief scientist glared at the child.

"Abigail has the ATA gene?" Rodney said genuinely surprised. "Is she okay?"

"It appears so. Didn't you ever have your children tested?" Radek asked. "And Abigail is fine."

* * *

"Let me talk to her," he shook his head as he looked over at Jennifer. "And no we did not have them tested for the gene. They are kids and they didn't need to be tested."

"What happened?" Jennifer asked. She had hear snippets of the conversation and had a general idea, but she wanted specifics.

"Apparently our little demon has the ATA gene and took a jumper for a little air time with Radek inside. Makes a father so proud," he said with a laugh, imagining the look on Zelenka's face when the jumper left the ground.

Jennifer wanted to scold her husband for his last comment, but not having the kids there at the moment she had to admit it must have been funny, but they would have to admonish their daughter.

Radek handed the radio over to the child, "Daddy I swear I didn't know it would do that when I touched it. I let go as soon as the mean man yelled at me. I don't think I should have been yelled at like that," she let her voice quiver as if she was going to cry.

Rodney rolled his eyes at his daughter's tone, "We'll talk about it in a few minutes. Are you hungry?" he knew better than to buy into her poor me routine.

"A little," she said softly.

"Your mom and I are having lunch. Ask Radek to bring you to the mess hall and you can tell us what happened," the father pulled the radio out of his ear and tossed it to the table. "This should be an interesting story. Don't worry you will get used to this after a while."

"Middle child syndrome?" Jennifer asked.

Rodney shook his head, "Don't think so. I think she just takes after me. Payback for what I put my parents through. You might find this hard to believe, but I was a bit of a pain in the ass growing up."

"Really now?" she laughed. "I would never have guessed. The interesting things you learn after years of marriage. I don't know if I can do this anymore," Jennifer laughed and tossed a grape at her husband's forehead.

"Hey," he joined in the laughter.

Abigail stood at the entrance of the mess with her two escorts, "They've been doing that a lot since she got back." She said about the laughter.

Ronon stood behind the girl and looked over at the couple. Seeing was believing and he tilted his head as he looked at Rodney, "He's shrunk."

"Ronon," Teyla said with a warning tone. The man next to her was right, Rodney looked quite different from the last time she had seen him.

The girl slipped away from the two adults and ran toward her parents, "Daddy...Mommy," she threw her arms around her father.

Ronon and Teyla approached the table if nothing was different.

"Jennifer... Rodney it is nice to see you both. It has been many days. How are you feeling, Jennifer?" Teyla was still trying to grasp that the woman in front of her was alive. She had seen how devastated Rodney was when he thought he lost her and it was nice to see her alive and both happy.

"I'm good." It felt odd to say _It's good to see you_ because it only felt like a few days had passed since she saw the two the Pegasus natives.

"I am glad you are well," Teyla joined the couple at the table.

Ronon tightly clasped Rodney's shoulder, "It's good to see you buddy. Looks like you quit the junk food." Life in the city had become very dull after John and Rodney left and for now he had one of them back.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Funny," he said in a dead pan tone. "And you haven't changed in the least. "

"You've trained your offspring well," Ronon pointed to the girl sitting next to her father. "I haven't seen Zelenka get that mad since he used to deal with...well you."

The father and daughter gave the Satedan matching glares.

"That's creepy," he commented about the stares.

"Did you really get a jumper into the air?" Rodney asked his daughter. This was just another way she was taking after him.

Abigail nodded, unsure if her father was mad at her.

"That's my girl," he smiled at the girl. "Give me five," Rodney held out his hand to his daughter. He knew he should not be condoning this type of behavior, but deep down he was really proud.

Jennifer shook her head, "Hey, you two."

"What?" Abigail and Rodney simultaneously and with the inflection in their tone.

"She is definitely your daughter," Jennifer shook her head again. The similarities between the two were almost scary.

Teyla cleared her throat, "What of Arthur and Zoe?" She had not seen the rest of the McKay children since her return.

"Lorne took them on a tour of the mainland," Jennifer answered. "They should be back in a few hours."

"How is this possible?" Ronon asked. "I was there. I saw what happened?" He covered Abigail's ears before speaking again. "The three of us saw you die."

Rodney raised his hand, "That is what I am here for. There was some kind of device found at the outpost and it is up to me to figure out what it did."

Abigail shrugged off the big man's hands, "Hands off, Chewie."

Teyla raised her eyebrows at the name calling, "How is John doing?" She knew the girl had to pick up that name from her former team leader.

"Sheppard is good. He and Carson were off world when we left. I think they should be home by now." Rodney had expected that one of both of the men would have made an appearance when they heard the news, but figured their SGC duties prevented them.

"You and Sheppard live together, right?" Ronan inquired.

Rodney did not like the way the question sounded, "He lives in the apartment over the garage of my house, yes."

Abigail started to nod off as the adults talked. They were too preoccupied in getting reacquainted that they forgot that she was at the table with them.


	8. Chapter 8

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis, but the McKay children are of my creation

**A/N: Please leave reviews. They are always welcome. Thanks to ****Shadows-of-Realm for the Beta.**

* * *

**Chapter 8- Mirror Mirror-Things Are Not Always What They Seem**

Rodney knew something had gone wrong as soon as he saw the bright flash, but he did not know how bad it was about to get. The first thing he became aware of was the pounding in his head and then he tired to clear his vision. The physicist saw the ceiling of his lab…well former lab, "Crap! What happened?" he muttered to himself. Rodney tried sitting up but a wave of vertigo and nausea had him back on the floor, flat on his back. "Concussion. Just perfect," he heard a noise to his left and saw two children trying to hide behind one of the tables. "Arthur, what happened?" He recognized the boy as his son, but had no idea who his friend was. As far as he was aware the only children on Atlantis was his three and Torren.

Arthur looked confused, "How do you know my name?"

The father narrowed his eyes as he was not in the mood for any games, "Real funny, mister. Who is your little girlfriend?" he rubbed the back of his head and his hand came back bloodied.

The girl spoke up, "Ewww. I am not his girlfriend. He's my stinky brother."

Arthur tugged on his sister's arm, "Bethie, remember what mom said about talking to strangers."

Rodney sighed as he sat up, putting his head between his knees._ Bethie…Elizabeth._ "This is not good," he said to himself. The last thing he remembered was working on the Ancient device, trying to figure out what it did. "Okay, this hurts too much to be a dream." McKay looked at the two children, "Bethie…Elizabeth. Twins. Turned seven last month." Rodney was having difficulty concentrating between the pounding in his head and the dizziness. This was impossible; his Elizabeth died when she was three months old.

Elizabeth eyes went wide, "How does he know that?" she asked her brother.

He swallowed hard as he realized they had no recollection of him. That could mean a number of things that happened to_ the him_ in this reality. Obviously he was not involved in his children's life. Rodney thought that this reality must have split from his with Elizabeth's death. "You have sisters, Abigail and Zoe?" he wanted to see how far this reality was different from his own.

"Yes. Who are you?" Arthur got very suspicious of the man who seemed to know a lot about his family.

Elizabeth leaned over to her brother, "He doesn't know about Meredith and Rodney." She said it in a hushed tone, but it still could clearly be heard.

That got Rodney's attention; two more children that were clearly named after him. "I so hope Meredith's a girl. Otherwise that is so not cool," he sighed as he got the feeling the him of this reality was probably dead. He would never have let his children be named after him and he knew it would be just the thing his Jennifer would have done if he wasn't around.

"How did you know Meredith wasn't a girl?" Arthur looked at the man who was holding his head. "Do you need a doctor? My mom is a doctor. She can help you."

"There are six of you?" his voice went a little too high. Rodney made a mental note to talk to Jennifer when he got back to his reality about some form of birth control. "A doctor. Any doctor would be good," he laid back down as the room spun less when he did that. "It was just a hunch. They are named after your father?"

"Arthur...Elizabeth. Where are you two?" Jennifer yelled. She was going to punish the two of them when she found them. They had been warned to keep out of the labs at night and Sheppard had told her that he had seen his godchildren heading in that general direction.

Elizabeth eyes went wide, "We are busted."

Rodney closed his eyes and massaged his temples with his clean hand. If he was dead in the reality, the approaching woman was in for quite a shock. A similar shock to the one he got a week ago.

Arthur ran off to get his mother, "Don't be mad that we were in the sciences labs, but something strange happened. Bethie and I were playing and all of a sudden this man came out of nowhere. He knew me, but didn't know Bethie. He knew we turned seven last month. He knew of Abigail and Zoe, but didn't know about Meredith and Rodney. But he knew Meredith was a he and said it wasn't cool to name a boy that. Also he knew that they were named after dad. Oh, and I think he hurt his head. It looked like it was bleeding a lot. I don't know how bad he is hurt. I haven't seen him before. It is like he was beamed in. I know he couldn't because the Daedalus and Apollo aren't with in beaming range. Maybe you should take a look at him. He knows a lot about us," he rambled on.

"Slow down, Arthur," she tried to get the boy to calm down and he rambled on like his father used to. Jennifer was concerned about this stranger appearing out of nowhere and even more when she heard he was injured. The doctor reached for her earwig, "Woolsey, John we might have a situation here. Please come to Radek's lab and send a medical team with you." After placing the call she turned to her son, "You stay here. Elizabeth get out here now," she said in an restrained voice, trying to stay calm, but very angry at the same time.

Rodney looked over at his would be daughter, "She sounds pissed." He knew that tone well and it usually was followed by a lot of yelling.

Elizabeth looked worried and ran out of the room.

"Is that man still in there?" the mother asked.

The girl nodded, "He is lying on the floor. There is a lot of blood."

Jennifer pointed at the twins, "Stay here." she wondered how bad the wound was. Head wounds were notorious for bleeding a lot. She carefully walked into the lab and she went pale when she saw a man who looked a lot like her dead husband laying on the floor expect that he was thinner and had glasses, "What the hell?"

Rodney saw her reaction. _Yup, he's dead._ "My sentiments exactly."

"What? How?"

"The what I am guessing is parallel universe and the how I don't have a clue...yet," he sighed.

The woman was still in shock and the explanation of alternate reality was not registering.

John was the first to arrive, "What is the situation, Jen..." he stopped midsentence when he saw who was on the floor, "Rodney?" It was a dumb question to ask. "What happened to the rest of you?" he asked in typical Sheppard manner.

"As much fun as it could be to banter with you I have a splitting headache and think I am going to need a few stitches for the back on my head, " he tried to sit up, but felt too queasy to do so.

Sheppard turned toward Jennifer, "Is that really him? Where has he been?"

Rodney groaned, "Test me all you want..."he then passed out.

Jennifer dropped to her knees to check for a pulse, "It's strong." She looked up at John as if he would have an answer. Her gaze fell to his left hand, recognizing the band matched the one she wore. "Can it be him?" Her hands shook as they laid on Rodney's shoulder.

The colonel ran his hand through his hair, knowing they had see many crazy things in their time on Atlantis, "I don't know. Did he say anything?"

"Not much to me," she took a deep breath. "He spoke with Arthur. Arthur said he knew him." Jennifer saw her oldest twins standing at the door. "Carson matched the dental records. How can he be here?"

John shook his head, "We are going to have to wait until he wakes up to get answers."

Richard arrived in at the lab in a brisk jog, "What is the problem, Dr. McKay?" he noticed that she was kind of pale and was hunched over a body.

Sheppard turned to his boss, "According to the two out there," he pointed to where Arthur and Abigail were standing at the door. "He just appeared out of nowhere," John pointed to where Jennifer was tending to the unconscious Rodney.

The base commander glanced over to see who the doctor was working on, "Is that?"

John nodded, "So it would seem. Have to wait to he wakes up to find out more." The medical team arrived and took over for their boss.

Jennifer stood up and took a deep breath, finding this very unnerving. "John we saw him die. You carried his body back...or what was left of it."

Sheppard put his hand on the woman's shoulder, "We will figure it...or at he can tell us what happened when he wakes up."

* * *

Rodney woke up with his head still pounding and he noticed that he had been transferred to the infirmary. "Damn," he clutched his head, wondering what exactly caused his head injury.

"You should not use bad language. It is not very nice," Elizabeth lightly scolded. Ever since he had been bought to the infirmary the young girl had become entranced by the man. "You must be someone important because since you arrived all the adults have been in a meeting."

He found it hard to look at the girl as it bought up too many bad memories from his past. Rodney wondered what happened in this reality that she survived. "Something like that," he turned away from her, covering his head with a pillow.

"Did you hurt your neck too?" the girl asked. "Did you know there is a bruise on the back of your neck?"

"I know," Rodney said about the mark left by his wife from the day before.

"How did you get it?" Elizabeth asked.

"Ask your mother in a few years," he was not going to go into the specifics. "Can you lower your voice?"

"Why in a few years?" she asked confused. "If I lower my voice anymore and I will be whispering."

Rodney rolled back and faced the girl, "That is fine. Do you understand the concept of a splitting headache?"

Elizabeth frowned, not liking that the man was being mean to her. "You are not very good with kids are you?"

Rodney paused for a moment at her question, if she only had an idea about the truth, "My three like me just fine."

"I have three brothers and two sisters. I'm the oldest by..." she was interrupted.

"Oldest by five minutes," he said with fond remembrance.

Elizabeth eyes went wide, "How did you know that?"

He shook his head and was going to say something until he saw a small boy approach, "Li, Gotta poopie now!"

Elizabeth scrunched up her nose, "That's gross, Meredith. Do you have to use the potty?"

Rodney turned his head as he had to see the boy from himself, the son that was but wasn't his son. He began to wonder just where this reality completely split from his and if the explosion was the split event could his Jennifer have been pregnant at the time of the explosion. It caused a pit to form in his stomach to look at the daughter who was dead and the son that would never be. He had experience with alternate realities before but none seemed this close to his.

Meredith nodded, "Yes. We go now." His mother was nowhere to be found and Arthur had told him to find Li. "Hi," he waved to Rodney.

"Hi," he gave a half wave to the young boy. The kid was practically the spitting image of him when he was younger. "How old is he?"

"He will be three in four months," Elizabeth explained. "How old are your kids?"

After doing some quick calculations in his head he figured out that would put conception time around the time of the explosion. Rodney needed to know exactly what that device did and how he was going to get back. "They're seven, five and half and four," he answered her question, wondering if his Elizabeth would have been this inquisitive.

"Where are they? Where did you come from?" She fired off more questions. This man appearing was the most exciting thing to have happened in a long time.

Rodney sighed, "They're with their mother." He purposely did not answer the question of where he came from.

Just then John showed up and put his hand the girl's shoulder, "Bethie, your mom is looking for you two. I have a few questions for our guest here."

Elizabeth made a face, "I wasn't done asking him questions. Can't I stay, Uncle John?"

Sheppard shook his head, "Sorry, we've got adult stuff we have to talk about."

Elizabeth sighed, "Thanks for being mean, flyboy." She said with a huff, "Come on, Meredith." The girl took her brother's arm and stomped off.

Rodney snickered at the name-calling. "I always hated that name," he grumbled about his first name.

John was still stunned to see the man before him, "It's safe to assume you are not the Rodney we knew."

McKay nodded, "That's correct." He rubbed his temples. "Can you do anything about this headache?"

Sheppard nodded and asked one of the nurses about something for the pain. "We are waiting for your blood tests is there anything we should know about?"

"I am not a clone if that is what you are wondering. The only thing that is going to show up is therapeutic levels of Wellbutrin. Everything else should line up with what you have on file for him."

John nodded, "That is an antidepressant, right? Do you have any idea what happened? What is the last thing that you remember?"

"I was working in Radek's lab, trying to figure out what a device from an Ancient outpost on M32-254 did. I had just gotten power to the device when there was a bright flash and then I was here," Rodney knew he would have to explain, but there were things he did not know.

"That is the planet were you... well he died," the colonel narrowed his eyes.

"Almost three and half years ago. December 23, 2013. Things happened a little differently where I come from," he sighed heavily.

"Parallel universe, then?" John asked.

"It is the only thing that makes sense," Rodney frowned and closed his eyes to block out the pain.

"How do you figure?" the military man asked.

Rodney frowned, "Just a hunch." He lowered his eyes unable to look at the other man in the eyes.

"As you can imagine it is quite a shock. I mean I carried his body back after the explosion," John said in awe.

"Was there a device on the planet?" Rodney asked.

John nodded, "There was. There was some kind of glitch with its intended purpose..."

"The explosion and the radiation levels," McKay started to explain.

"Those radiation levels were false readings. There was no danger from them."

Rodney's eyes went wide, "They were false? I knew I should not have let them convince me to leave." His fists tightened into a ball. "I have a feeling that our realties were eerily similar until what happened on that planet," Rodney started to feel very anxious at this point. He could see the skepticism on Sheppard face, "My phone. I had it in my pocket."

"Oh that. We tried to crack your password. So it is with Zelenka right now," Sheppard kept a straight face. "What is important about the phone?"

"Pictures. Show that I don't have anything to hide. It's just family pictures on there," he shrugged.

"Cell phones work on Atlantis?" John knew he caught the man in a lie.

Rodney rolled his eyes, "Are you kidding me? No. I've only back on Atlantis for the last week."

"You left Atlantis? When?" John was shocked. A Rodney was still a Rodney and he never thought they would leave Atlantis.

"After what happened on M32-254 I didn't want to raise my children on Atlantis. I left to give them a normal life. I was able to get a transfer to the SGC so I've worked out of Cheyenne Mountain for the past three years," McKay looked at the other man straight in the eyes.

John tried to show no emotion, "What about the me in your reality? Wouldn't he have convinced you to stay?"

Rodney shook his head, "Quite the opposite. We left together and he lives in an apartment over my garage. Has his own SG team."

Sheppard was getting ready to ask another question when Jennifer and Radek showed up, both looking confused.

"By those looks I am guessing everything checks out. No nanites, all my telomeres check out and no wraith DNA in me. Is there anything I am missing out?" Rodney tried to lighten the mood.

Jennifer was shaking her head, "Everything checks out. How is this possible?"

"He says parallel universe," the military commander pointed to the Rodney in the bed. "He was working on the device from M32-254 when he was transported here."

Radek shook his head, "Why did you wait so long to work on the device? Assuming you are anything like...well him; why wait so long?"

Rodney scratched his head, "The device was found only a week ago. Did you find out what the device did or was supposed to do? Does it have to do with time dilation or some kind of stasis?"

Zelenka's jaw dropped, "It took me a while to figure out, but it was supposed to set up a time dilation field. How did you know if you didn't get to test it?"

"I suspected and I just had to prove my theory. In short the time dilation field in my reality worked," he did not want to go into more detail until he had to.

"Someone got stuck in the field then?" Radek asked. He knew if this Rodney was anything like his he would have to have good reason to suspect it before mentioning it.

Rodney nodded, "I need to look at that device. I need to find a way to get back to my reality." He started to get up, but Jennifer put her hands on his shoulders to stop him.

"Not until you recover," the woman tried to get him to calm down. "You hit your head pretty hard."

John was playing over things the conversations in his head, "The last thing you said to Elizabeth was it true?"

Rodney looked at him confused, "What was the last thing I said?"

"That your kids were with their mother. She was the one who got caught in the time dilation field, but you didn't know it?" the military commander asked. He knew the silence from Rodney meant he was correct, but he would have to explain to Jennifer and Radek who were looking confused. "He said that he left Atlantis after what happened on M32-254 to give his kids a normal life. He's been working out of the SGC ever since. Now I am guessing something happened that the device stopped worked and she went back to Atlantis as if nothing happened and then someone called you and you came back. How am I doing?"

The man in the bed nodded, "Pretty spot on except for the last part. I had been working on a communications relay between Earth and Atlantis so that the gate doesn't need to be dialed to communicate. I was doing a test run when Zelenka and Woolsey said there was someone wanted to talk to me."

"Are you saying that our universes were mirrors of each other until that explosion?" Radek asked. It was still odd to see Rodney alive and well.

Rodney made a face, "Not exactly. There are some difference. It seems like events diverged for a while and then came back to mirroring each other and then split again with the events of M32-254. The multiverse theory," he did not want to tell them about his Elizabeth. He looked at Jennifer, "Anniversary, August 26th or October 31st?"

"August," she replied. Jennifer was curious why he would ask that question.

"Give that to me," Rodney made a grasp for the phone. He looked at Sheppard and rolled his eyes, "Yes, we purposely picked Halloween."

Jennifer stood there chewing her lip, "A different wedding date is all that is different?" she wondered, but he had mentioned the August date.

"No," he looked away from everyone. "We had to postpone the August date." Rodney was not happy that he had to stir up his painful past, but he knew telling the truth would gain their trust. He would only talk about his daughter if directly questioned on it. Even seven years later the loss of his first daughter was still a very raw wound. "There is one thing that has been nagging me. The device on my side did not have nearly enough power to open a space/time bridge. And by not enough power it didn't even have enough to operate a toaster," Rodney was bothered by the power issue. It made no sense that the device opened a space/time bridge as previous experience dictated that a lot of power was needed to do so.


	9. Chapter 9

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis, but the McKay children are of my creation

**A/N: Please leave reviews. They are always welcome. Thanks to **Shadows-of-Realm for the Beta.

* * *

**Chapter 9- The Reality of it All**

Elizabeth had just come back from here science tutoring lesson with Radek and saw her mother crying sitting on the bed crying. "What's wrong, mom?" she asked, sitting next to the woman bed.

Jennifer had spent the better part of the day in her room crying. Having an alternate version of her dead husband was affecting her more than she cared to admit especially with their realities being so close to one another. He still refused to talk about the event that he said made their realities split to only come back together. She wiped the tears from her eyes with her free hand the other clutched her a picture of her and Rodney taken on their first anniversary. She was five months pregnant with Abigail at the time. "Nothing, sweetie. Everything is fine," she was never a very good liar.

"Thinking of dad?" she asked. It was the only time her mother got this said.

The mother nodded, "Yeah, I am." Some days it hurt so much it was hard to breathe.

"What are you holding?" Elizabeth reached for the photo her mother was holding. She looked at the picture and was stunned, "Is that?"

Jennifer nodded, "Your dad and I. I was pregnant with Abigail there." She knew what question was coming next but did not have any idea how to answer it.

"He kind of look like that guy who showed up the other day. Is it him?" the girl had forgotten what her father had looked like because she knew it was too hard for her mother to keep the picture out. Elizabeth knew it had to be painful to live with six reminders of him every day.

The mother took a deep breath, "It's complicated Bethie. He is but he isn't." The physics of how alternate universes worked was had always been Rodney's area of knowledge.

The child looked confused, "But if he is then how come he didn't know who I was? He knew Arthur right away and he also knew about Abigail and Zoe. I mean of course he did not know about Meredith and Rodney because he died before they were born."

Jennifer could not get over how adult like her oldest sounded, but her words made something click. He did not recognize Elizabeth and without seeing Abigail or Zoe he knew about them. "When you were talking to him the other day, did he mention how many kids he had?"

"He said three," Elizabeth was thrown by the question. She knew she was a genius, but the whole is but not is her father thing was puzzling.

The older woman now knew what the alternate Rodney was hiding and the reason he said his wedding was postponed; he lost his Elizabeth sometime before their August wedding date. It would explain his not knowing the girl and his reluctance to talk on the subject. Jennifer could not imagine the pain he must have felt and probably still felt. She had heard that the loss of a child was never something you would ever get over. Not that you got over losing the love of your life either and he knew what that pain felt like too.

"What is it?" the child looked at her mother's expression. "How come he doesn't know me? Why isn't he here with us?" Elizabeth knew the man had been released from the infirmary earlier.

Jennifer did not know where to begin or how to. She should have stopped Elizabeth from taking the picture. "That's where he isn't your dad. He is not the same person we knew."

"I don't get it," Elizabeth was still lost.

The mother sighed and pulled her daughter into a hug, "You know the wild things that happen here. This is one of things. Do you know anything about Alternate universes?"

Elizabeth shrugged, "Kind of. I was reading one of Uncle John's old reports and there was something like that on Jeannie's first trip here. Are you saying it is something like that?"

It still amazed Jennifer some days on just how smart her oldest was. Elizabeth and Arthur were definitely taking after their father when it came to their love for physics, "That what happened to..." Jennifer was not sure how to refer to him.

"What do we call him?" Elizabeth asked. "I want to talk to him again. Can we ask him to stay? That way we can be a complete family. Can I call him daddy?"

Her daughter's enthusiasm made Jennifer start to cry again, "Bethie, baby it doesn't work like that. As much as I would love to have your dad back we can't ask him to stay. He has his own family where he comes from and they are probably wondering what happened to him. I don't think he would like being called that."

The girl pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, "Can I at least ask him if he wants to stay? He told me his kids are with their mother. So they don't need him then."

It broke the mother's heart to see her daughter plead like that, "Elizabeth, no." Jennifer pulled her child into a hug. "I know this is hard for you to understand, but that man does not belong here. We have to help him get home. It's what your dad would do if he was here."

* * *

Rodney sat in the mess hall carefully examining the data that the Zelenka of this reality was able to compile on the device. The more he read the more he got confused. The power left on the device here was in a similar state as the one in his reality. There is no logical way that it should have had the ability to pull him from one reality and place him in another. The astrophysicist let out a growl of frustration. It was all the laws of physics had been tossed out the window. It did not help that everyone kept staring at him as they passed. It was not as if they did not have experience with people arriving from alternate realities and the one that usually came was him. McKay tried his best to ignore the people around him.

"Oh come on," he grumbled as the tablet refused him access to some data from his..or the him of this reality research that he thought could help him. "This just sucks," Rodney snapped as he slammed the tablet on the table. "I need you to work so I can get home," his thoughts went to his kids and his Jennifer and what they had thought happened to him and if anyone was working on figuring a way of getting him home. "There has to be a logical reason for this," he whined, dropping his head to the table.

"There is no place like home," Rodney said to himself as he clicked his heels together three times, but didn't go anywhere. "It was worth a shot."

The tired man was on his way out of the mess hall when something small collided with his leg and attached itself to his knee. He looked down and saw it was the small kid from the infirmary the other day. One of his twin sons that he never got to have. Maybe he would teach the small child to rebel against the name Meredith.

"Help," the small boy looked up at him.

"RODNEY!" A girl's voice yelled down the hall.

"She coming," there were tears in the boy's eyes.

Rodney knew that voice very well; it was Abigail's and he wondered why she was calling out to him, but he felt the boy squeeze his leg harder. The child attached to his leg was not the same boy from the infirmary; it was his brother. Identical twins. If they looked so much like him Rodney had to wonder if they had the personality to match.

"There you are," Abigail said in a huff as she caught up with her younger brother.

"No," Little Rodney hid behind big Rodney, trying to get away from his sister.

"I...umm. I don't think he wants to go with you," the older man looked at the girl in front of him. She was definitely different than his Abigail. For one she would never be caught dead in a dress like the one in front of him was wearing.

Abigail looked at Rodney for a couple of moments before she spoke, "You're that guy that showed up the other day. Bethie has been talking about you since then." The girl clearly was annoyed by her sister's latest obsession.

"No dress," the young Rodney shook his head.

Rodney looked down at the boy clinging to his leg, clearly frightened of his sister. "It's okay," he picked up the boy. It was odd that his children that did not exist yet or anymore in his reality had some kind of attraction to him. First was Elizabeth and now this boy. "Are you trying to put dresses on him?" Definitely nothing like his Abigail even though the torturing of younger siblings was one thing they had in common. The boy in his arms nodded.

"Tattle tale," she pouted. "How did you know that is what he meant?"

"Because one of my daughters tries to do the same at her weekly tea parties," he sighed. Parents were not supposed to pay favorites with their children, but deep down Rodney had a special bond with Abigail because she was the most like him and the girl in front of him was nothing like her. _Arthur and I really hate those tea parties of Zoe's._

Suddenly the older man felt light headed and he put the younger Rodney back on the floor. Then came the intense pain in his head and Rodney collapsed to the floor, screaming in agony, as if someone was digging an ice pick into his head. He curled up in the fetal position as the pain intensified and his body began to shake. The physicist was sure he was going to pass out from the pain until he heard his wife's voice in his head. She repeated the same three phrases over and over; _Rodney you've got to wake up. This is some cruel joke. Please come back to us._

The pain disappeared as suddenly as it came and as Rodney became aware of his surroundings he saw Jennifer, Abigail, Elizabeth and young Rodney standing over him. The three females looked quite worried as he wiped away the tears that came from the pain.

"What happened?" Jennifer asked in a concerned voice.

"I don't know," he tried to sit up, but Jennifer pushed him back down. "One minute I was fine and the next I was in the worst pain I had ever experienced. Then I heard you tell me to wake up and then said this was a cruel joke and finally for me to come back to you."

The woman looked perplexed, "I never said such things." She had only called his name several times, but it was nothing more than that.

Rodney frowned, "Yes, you did. I heard it."

Jennifer shook her head, "Maybe you were hearing things."

Abigail looked between her mother and the man on the floor, "Why did you call him Rodney?"

"Because it's his name, stupid," Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

The mother shot a death glare at the older girl, "Don't go there Bethie." It was bad enough that Elizabeth knew the truth.

"Relax, Rodney. A medical team is coming. I want to run a few tests. Something could be there now that wasn't there before."

"You mean like a parasite," he groaned. "My memory is all here."

"No, but now that you mention it I think I will check for that as well. I was talking about bleeding in the brain."

"Great. I'm never going to get home am I?" Rodney was starting to get paranoid that something or someone did not want him to work on the device.

* * *

Jennifer sat her husband's bedside, holding his hand tightly as their three children sat around the bedside. "Rodney you've got to wake up," she said in a hushed whisper, not wanting to cry in front of her children. "This is some cruel joke. I come back and you go away. Please come back to us."

It all started when she went to check her husband's progress with the device when she heard the explosion from two floor above the lab. She had never run so fast before and she felt sick when she saw the smoke coming from the lab. She forgot about being a wife and switched to doctor mode when she saw Rodney laying on the floor bleeding from his head. It was less than a minute later that the medical team came rushing and took over. Now three days later she sat in the infirmary with her children, begging him to wake up. He had spent the first day and half on a ventilator and now he was breathing on his own. Amanda had told her it was only a matter of time before he woke up. With it being a head wound there was no time table for when it would happen, but she knew the longer he was out the less of a chance he would wake.

Zoe had been extremely withdrawn from the moment she saw her father lying in the bed, "He said no one was going to leave." The young girl started to cry into her brother's shoulder.

"He'll be okay, Zoe. Dad's too strong to let this get to him," Arthur tried to comfort his sister, but he could see how upset his mother was and he took his cue from her.

Abigail stood with her head on her mother's shoulder. "When is he going to wake up? He likes to sleep, but this is too long."

"I don't know. Soon I hope," Jennifer closed her eyes as a wave of vertigo and nausea washed over her. She grabbed a wash bin next to the bed and immediately got sick into it.

"Are you okay?" Abigail asked, looking worried.

Jennifer was really pale and she thought she might pass out. "Can you get Dr. Cole for me?" she rested her head against the edge of Rodney's bed. She recalled the last time she felt this sick was the night they got engaged and then most days for the next couple of months.


	10. Chapter 10

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis, but the McKay children are of my creation

**A/N: Please leave reviews. They are always welcome. Thanks to ****Shadows-of-Realm for the Beta.**

* * *

_**Chapter 10- Two Worlds**_

Jennifer laid on the bed next to Rodney's as Amanda took her blood pressure. She was feeling a little less queasy after drinking a can of ginger ale, "You don't need to do that. I'm fine."

"You haven't eaten very much in the last few days, have you?" The current CMO question her predecessor. Amanda knew the woman was worried about her husband as the family had hardly left his side since Rodney was brought in.

The worried wife sighed, "I know that I should know better, but I haven't been hungry. I need you to draw blood and check my hCG level."

"You think you are pregnant?" Amanda asked. She knew that Jennifer had only been back almost two weeks and her blood tests that were run on her after her arrival did not indicate that she was pregnant.

Jennifer closed her eyes, not knowing what to do, "The only time I got sick like this was for the first two trimesters with my first pregnancy." The mother was careful not to mention that it was with twins as her children were close enough to hear her. She did not have any morning sickness with Abigail and Zoe and it did not make sense to her as she and Rodney had only been together that one day since her return and she could not be showing symptoms of pregnancy this soon. A slight panic began to set in and Jennifer thought it best to for Radek to finish going over the data the device downloaded before the explosion before she settled into full panic. If Rodney's hunches about the intent of the device were true then there would be nothing to worry about if she was pregnant. It would simply be that her husband got her pregnant three years ago, close enough to the explosion at the outpost that it would not have shown up in the blood tests they ran when she got back, but now that she had been back two weeks that she might start to show symptoms.

Dr. Cole nodded, "I will run the test." She turned to one of the nurses and asked them to draw Jennifer's blood. "You just lay here for a while and make sure you eat. You need to keep your strength up."

Jennifer gave a weak smile and looked over at her comatose husband in the bed. She could not help but to smile as the sight of their children were around his bed, they really adored their father and knew this had to be hard for them. It was hard for her too and the woman felt like something divine had it out for them. They were just beginning to settle in as family again when the explosion occurred. Life was not fair in the least bit.

Zoe broke free from Arthur's embrace and joined her mother on the other bed. "Are you okay?" the small girl asked as she rubbed Jennifer's back. "Daddy rubs our backs when our tummy hurts."

The ill mother nodded, "I will be. Thanks, Zoe."

"Can I stay with you?" the youngest asked.

That made Jennifer smile, "Of course you can." She turned on to her back from her side. "Are you hungry?" she started to play with Zoe's hair.

"No," Zoe shook her head and cuddled with her mother. "When is daddy gonna wake up?"

"Hopefully real soon," Jennifer said softly. That was all she could hope for and right now she needed him more than ever.

Arthur looked over at his mother, concerned for her especially after the conversation she had with Dr. Cole. "Do you need anything?" he asked.

The mother shook her head, "No, but can I get a hug?" Jennifer wondered if she was ready to bring another life into the world. She was just getting to really know the three she had missed out on so much and now the possibility that there was another on the way was scary.

Arthur jumped off his father's bed and went over to his mother's. "Are you sure you are okay?" he hugged Jennifer tightly.

Jennifer nodded, "I didn't eat today. That's all."

The boy rolled his eyes and wondered what was with his parents that they forgot to eat sometimes. "You should know better," Arthur said in a stern, paternal tone as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"Yes, I should," the mother had a feeling this was not the first time her son had given this lecture. He was very mature for having turned seven a month ago. Jennifer looked over at Abigail who had taken the seat she had previously been and was holding her father's hand.

"Come on daddy, wake up. You gotta wake up. You can't sleep anymore. It's time to get up. We've got to home," Abigail gently tried to shake Rodney awake. She pouted when it did not work and she then turned to her mother and siblings, "If we take him home will he wake up?"

Jennifer sighed and shook her, "It doesn't work that way, sweetie."

"But can we still take dad home?" Arthur asked. Even before their father had been injured he had been wondering when they would be going back to Colorado. "We don't like it here." It was his duty as the oldest to speak up for him and his sisters.

The slightly dizzy woman looked at all three of her children for confirmation and the two girls nodded, agreeing with their brother.

"We want to go back to our house," Abigail added. "Can't Carson or Dr. Lam help make daddy better instead of her? There is Uncle John too. He can yell at daddy until he wakes up." she looked over at Dr. Cole.

Jennifer went silent to think on the idea and thought the kids had to be uncomfortable here since they only knew life in Colorado. They had been pulled from their stable lives for the chaos of the past two weeks and the mother was starting to think that being in familiar surrounding would be good for everyone. "I can talk to Dr. Cole about transferring you dad back to the SGC," she did not see a reason to stay here other than being nervous about returning to Earth. Rodney was stable for transport and there was no difference if he was treated here or back on Earth.

The children's mood brightened at the prospect of going home, but they were all clearly distressed by their father's condition.

Jennifer stayed in the bed for fifteen minutes before sitting up. The dizziness had passed, but there was still the lingering nausea and she knew it was not going to go away soon. "Why don't you sit on my lap," Jennifer said to Abigail who was sitting in the seat vacated by her mother.

The blonde girl nodded, "Ok." She got up so her mother can sit. "You'll like the house. It's really big and has lots of room for all of us. You can sleep in daddy's room when we get home. I'm sure he doesn't mind if you use it," Abigail had seen the two adults share a bed every night and felt that she could use his bedroom.

"Thank you for that, Abigail." Jennifer paused when she caw Amanda walking toward her. She took a long breath before asking the question of the day, "What did the blood work say?"

Amanda was not sure if congratulations were in order, "Do you want to talk in private?"

Jennifer nodded, "I'll be right back." She told her children and walked so she was out of earshot range.

"You are most definitely pregnant."

The frazzled woman pursed her lips, "But nothing showed in my blood work from two weeks ago." Her hand went instinctively to her stomach. It was the wrong time for this to be happening. She had convinced herself that Rodney's ideas about the device were right and hearing this news the certainty crumbled.

"It could mean that you conceived after the tests were run or that conception before the blood tests and it was too soon to get a positive result," the doctor explained.

Jennifer shook her head, "It wouldn't be after. We were only together the day before the accident." She really needed Radek to get done with his research. "How high are the levels?"

"Based on that fact and nothing showed up on your initial blood work I would have to guess conception happened about three weeks ago. Your hcG levels are on the high end of normal levels this stage."

"How high are we talking about?"

"5876. It is still normal. There are a number of reasons for the high level."

Jennifer sighed when she heard that, "Like that it could be twins." That thought made everything scarier.

"That is one possibility. You've had twins before," Amanda paused and looked up. "I think Dr. Zelenka is looking for you," she nodded at the short man who had just entered the infirmary with a tablet in hand and looking very anxious.

"Do you have anything, Radek?" Jennifer asked impatiently. It felt l like her sanity hinged on the news he had.

Radek nodded, "I believe I do. Luckily the device was about to download it's coding. It took me a while..."

"Just tell me what you found out. I don't need a detailed rundown," the distraught wife was not in the mood for any extra science babble.

"Rodney was right with his assumption of time dilation. The device was supposed to create a time dilation field. I was able to figure out that for every ten minutes that passed inside the field a year passed outside of it. So when only a little over a half hour passed for you for the rest of us it was almost three and half years," the small scientist explained. He wished it did not have to come at such a high of a cost. Radek hoped that Rodney was going to pull through as this was not right that they should be going through this.

To say Jennifer was beyond relieved was an understatement. "Thank you, Radek," she threw her arms around him as a sign of thanks. One huge burden was lifted off of her as any lingering doubts about her whereabouts for the last three years was answered; the baby they said she had less than a year ago was now definitely the now four year old Zoe and the one she just learned she carrying could only be Rodney's.

"Um. You're welcome," Radek was shocked by the sudden mood change, but he suspected that she was glad to get this news. "Any change?" he asked, looking at Rodney still unconscious in the bed.

Jennifer shook her head, "Not yet." She turned her attention to the other woman, "I want to have Rodney transferred to the SGC. The kids want to go home and I need to do what is best for them."

Amanda nodded, "Understood. I will talk to Dr. Lam about a transfer. You also need to take care of yourself too," she gently reminded.

"I know," Jennifer laid her arm across her stomach. "They come first."

"It's going to be at least twelve hours before I can transfer him. Why don't you all get some rest and eat something," Dr. Cole said more as an order.

The relieved mother nodded and headed back toward her family.

"Are we going home?" Abigail asked immediately.

"Later today," Jennifer replied, sitting down and slipping her hand into Rodney's. "Dr. Cole said she has to talk to Dr. Lam first." she was glad that news put the first smile for days on her children's faces. "We should eat and get some rest before we go back."

None of the children wanted to leave their father's side, but the look from their mother told them they had no choice.

Jennifer leaned over and pressed her lips to Rodney's ear. "We will be back soon, my love. I've got some news for you. The bruise isn't the only thing you left me from that evening in the jumper. We are going to have another baby. So you've got to come back to us," she whispered to him. "I love you," Jennifer stood up and kissed his forehead.

* * *

Rodney sat on the edge of the bed and winced as Jennifer shone a pen light into his eyes, "My head doesn't hurt anymore. The pain only last a minute or two." He felt really uncomfortable being surrounded by his other self's family especially the children that were dead or not born or as he was having a sneaking suspicion not born yet. Rodney was not sure if it would be insensitive to ask her when the small boys were conceived as he wanted to know if he had a pregnant wife at home. The would-be father looked at the small boy tugging on his pant leg.

"Abby no play dress up," little Rodney held his arms up as if he wanted to be picked up by the older man.

The elder Rodney looked torn as if he should pick the boy up or even if he wanted to. Looking at the younger him stirred up a lot of different emotions. At this moment he wanted nothing more than to go home and give each of his children the tightest hugs and never let go and the same for his wife. The father could only resist the blue eyes that matched his own for long. "May I?" he asked, looking over at Jennifer.

The woman nodded, not seeing the harm. Jennifer's breath caught in the back of her throat as she saw the two next to one another. She always knew her youngest twins looked like their father, but she didn't realize how much until she saw them side by side.

"Hey there," Rodney said as he picked up the child and placed him on his knee.

"Why do they have the same name?" Abigail asked as she carefully studied the two males, noting they looked similar. "It's not like it's a common name," the young girl said defiantly; it was a look Rodney knew well and saw often with his Abigail. _Not so different after all._

"I know why," Elizabeth said with a telling grin. "I know your secret," she pointed at the man.

Rodney's eyes went wide, "You told her?" He was not sure if he was upset or not. It would have been easier to handle if it were not the daughter he lost.

Jennifer did not like the tone of his voice. She thought he had no reason to be upset with her because these were her children and not his. "She figured it mostly for herself. Why are getting upset with me?"

The man rolled his eyes, "I think you would have figured that one out by now." Rodney glanced over at Elizabeth for a second before turning his attention to the boy on his knee.

"Don't get that attitude with me," she snapped. The man in front of definitely had her husband's personality. The realities were a little too close for comfort.

"Look I know this situation sucks big time for both of us. I just want to go home to my family. I don't want to cause any problems with yours," but he knew there were problems with Elizabeth knowing who he was.

Abigail looked between the two intense adults and was confused by what was going on. "What's his secret?" she asked her sister.

"Don't!" Jennifer yelled at Elizabeth. She knew it was stupid for her to have told the girl the truth, but she had asked after seeing the picture. Her attention was back to the alternate version of her husband, "Yes, I did figure it out. I'm sorry. How old was she?" she knew the children would have no idea what she was talking about.

"A week shy of four months," there was no emotion in his voice. "And what do you want?" Rodney's voice changed dramatically as he made a silly face at the miniature version of himself who was staring at him.

The small child laughed, "Don't know. Want your glasses."

Rodney shook his head, "I can't see without them." He removed his glasses and pretended he could not see. There was still one question he wanted to ask and he was fidgety as he figured a way to ask the question.

"What are you two talking about?" Elizabeth asked. She had no idea what the two were talking about. "Why do adults have to talk in code so we don't understand?"

"Exactly for that reason. So you don't understand," Jennifer said pointedly to Elizabeth. She could tell there was something Rodney wanted to ask as her version would fidget the same way when he had something to say, but was not sure if it was right to say. "What is it?"

"When was..." he trailed off the question and nodded toward the child who had now confiscated his glasses.

Jennifer bit her lip just figuring out why he was asking. He was trying to figure out if he was going to be a father again. "Jumper after..."

"After the Christmas party? Yelled at him that day for a bruise on your hip?" that was the last thing he needed to confirm. It was really amazing that of all the realities to be transported to that it was one extremely close to his own.

The woman nodded, "Yes." she could feel her chest tighten. To this day she regretted yelling at her husband for causing the bruise because had she known it would be the last time she would ever see him she would have chosen her words differently. Apparently this Rodney had the same argument with his wife before the explosion. A pang of jealousy struck her insides as she knew that when he got home that he was going to have everything she longed for. "I don't think time dilation should affect a pregnancy unless there was serious injury during the explosion."

A smile formed on Rodney's face as he realized that he was going to be a father again and twins again. He shook his head, "No serious injury. Just a concussion and some minor bruising." The smile would not disappear from his face.

Jennifer had hoped that would have been the reaction she received from her husband had she had ever had a chance to tell him. She had to squeeze her eyes shut to hide the tears that threatened to fall.

"Time dilation? Who's pregnant?" Abigail could not follow the conversation and now her mother looked like she was going to cry. None of it made sense to her. "Do you get it?" she asked Elizabeth.

The older sister shrugged, "I don't know." The whole time dilation thing was confusing her. "I think his wife is," she thought that would make her, her mother from his reality.

Jennifer shook her head, knowing she should not have had this conversation in front of the children. "Yes, his wife is pregnant." There was no use hiding it from them. He would be having his own set of identical twin boys in about eight months one of which was sitting with him now.

"How did you know that?" Abigail asked.

Elizabeth did not care she was going to get in trouble, but she felt her mother was being ridiculous. "He is from an alternate reality. He's our dad from another reality where he did not die in the explosion."

Rodney and Jennifer exchanged looks of horror. It was bad enough that Elizabeth knew the truth and now she had to confuse Abigail and little Rodney.

"ELIZABETH!" Jennifer yelled. "What did I tell you?"

"What?" the girl rolled her eyes. "It was only a matter of time before one of the loud mouths here let the truth slip. Secrets never last long here."

Rodney had to bite his lip to stop from laughing for two reasons. One the girl was right and two she had his Abigail's attitude nailed down. He knew as parent he was not supposed to have favorites, but he had to admit Abigail was his favorite. Even though he yelled and complained a lot, he could not help to relish in the fact that she was the miniature version of him as several people had pointed out.

Abigail pondered on the idea for a moment, "Interesting. Does that mean there is another version of me where you come from?"

Jennifer sighed as she looked at Rodney, "Always full of questions. You can go ahead." She knew they would keep pestering with questions and sometimes it was easier to just give in.

The man nodded in agreement, "Be lucky that you don't have to deal with almost weekly notes home from school. Only in kindergarten and I have a collection of about twenty notes." Rodney turned to Abigail, "That is a yes."

Elizabeth saw this as an opportunity to ask the question she had wanted to ask, "What about me? You recognized Arthur right away, but not me."

Rodney's face darkened for a moment as he thought of what to say. After a couple of seconds he shook his head and shrugged, "Never had a daughter named Elizabeth." It hurt to say that, but it was for the benefit of the child. "Alternate realities are funny like that."

"Daddy?" Little Rodney looked up.

"Not exactly, kiddo."

The toddler shook his head. "You daddy," he left no room for argument.

_I will be when my wife gives birth. _"If you say so." If he learned anything from raising his kids, it was that it was pointless to argue with them when they got this stubborn.

"Here," the younger handed the older his glasses back.

"Thank you," the older put his glasses back on.

"Does this mean you are staying here? This is going to be so cool," Abigail said excitedly.

This was exactly what Jennifer was afraid of; the children wanting Rodney to stay. "He can't stay..." she looked over at Rodney who had moved her son to the bed and was holding his head again.

The pain had come suddenly again and luckily Rodney had time to move the younger him off his knee and to the bed. Again it was like a stabbing pain in his brain and he heard the voice of his wife as well. _We will be back soon, my love, you've got to come back to us_ and _I love you_ he heard in his head. As quickly as the pain came it was gone and his face was streaked with tears from the pain.

"Are you okay?" Jennifer asked as Rodney removed his hands from his head. She could see the tears on his face and knew the pain had to be pretty bad.

Rodney nodded silently as he tried to regain his composure. "What's wrong with me?" he asked, scared that it was something serious and that it could prevent him from getting home. "I heard her voice again," he knew the Jennifer in front of him would not be speaking those kinds of words to him.

The physician paused for a moment, "Your scans did not show anything. We could rerun your blood work to see if there is anything there."

"What about the mark on the back of his neck. Maybe something bit him," Elizabeth pointed out.

Jennifer had noticed the mark on his neck the other day and knew exactly where it came from. Or someone bit him. "It has nothing to do with it," she turned her attention back to Rodney, "Have you ever heard voices before?" It puzzled her that he was hearing voices only when accompanied by pain.

"Once for about two weeks also saw things, but that had a very specific cause," Rodney did not want to go into much detail as it was a very low point in his life.

"From a head injury?" Jennifer inquired. She knew her husband never had an episode like he described, but this was one of the differences in their realties.

"It took a falling off the East pier and some memory loss to make it stop," he said with a shrug and adverted his eyes from Jennifer's.

Her jaw dropped, "You jumped from the pier?"

"No!" Rodney wondered why that was everyone's first reaction. "Hypoglycemia. Didn't eat. Was going to get sick and either lost my balance or fainted." He was not sure why he gave so much info but felt like he had to defend himself from that time. So many people thought his fall had been a suicide attempt and he still got defensive to this day when someone hinted at the thought.

Jennifer had a good idea what he was talking about and knew not to question him on it. "If your blood work doesn't show anything you are free to go," but she thought Abigail was ready to pester him with questions.

"Thanks," Rodney ran his hands through his hair and sighed, knowing he was about to be bombarded with questions from the two young girls.


	11. Chapter 11

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis, but the McKay children are of my creation

**A/N: Please leave reviews. They are always welcome. Thanks to **Shadows-of-Realm for the Beta. Sorry it took so long to update this one, but my AU story kind of hijacked my muse for a while. So please enjoy and leave a review.

* * *

**Chapter 11- Home Sweet Home...For Some**

Jennifer was glad that Carson was the one to come and help transfer Rodney back to the SGC. "It's been a while, Carson." It had been a few months since she saw him before her accident and she hoped he'd appreciate the humor in her statement.

"You can say that again," Carson put a gentle hand on her shoulder. He had been stunned when he and John had come home and Sam told them that Jennifer was alive and well. Now that the woman was standing in front of him the awe returned. "How are you faring, love?"

She shrugged, "I'm all over the place." Jennifer was still digesting the news that she was pregnant again and she was nervous about returning to Earth, but most importantly she was worried about Rodney.

"It is understandable. I'll make sure everything goes smoothly with the transfer. I'm sure Rodney will be back with us in no time," he tried to lift the woman's spirits. "Where are the children?"

Jennifer sighed and pulled her hair from her shoulders. She was in one of those states where you are too tired to even think about sleeping, "Abigail is saying a special goodbye to Radek and Arthur and Zoe are with Rodney."

"I looked at the scans and there is no reason that he still should be unconscious. So it is only a matter of time…" Carson began.

"I read the scans too," she frowned. "This couldn't happen at a worse time. Two weeks. That's all we had before this. I'm scared that he won't wake up. My kids are only starting to get to know me. They miss their father more than anything and they keep asking when he's going to wake up and I don't have an answer for them. I want to answer that question… for all of us." Jennifer lost control of her emotions for a moment. Right now she was not a doctor, but a worried wife scared she was going to lose her husband.

Carson pulled his friend into a comforting embrace, "You know Rodney. He always keeps to his own schedule. He's stubborn like a mule and will do whatever it takes to come back."

"Thanks Carson," she wiped a few tears away. Jennifer's attention was drawn away from the Scot by a high pitched scream which she knew to be from Abigail.

"Put me down, you boob. Helppppppppppp," Abigail yelled as she tried to kick herself free, but from her position of being slung over Radek's shoulder prevented her foot from making contact.

"I believe this belong to you," Radek said as he put the devil spawn down in front of her mother. "Keep her away from anything that requires the ATA gene," he turned to show where half his face was dyed blue.

The young girl stood in a defiant pose, "It was an accident. I just picked up the ball and it exploded." Abigail showed where her hands were dyed the same shade of blue. "He is jealous that I made the ball work and he couldn't. Weirdo hates me."

"I think you should change her name to Meredith. It's much more fitting her personality."

"Funny. Thanks for the compliment," Abigail said with typical McKay sarcasm. "He just thinks I am out to get him. How would I know that the thing would explode when I examined it? Saying I'm like my dad is a good thing. Why do you make it seem like a bad thing?"

Radek glared at the mini-Rodney, "That's not what I meant." He hated that this little child always had a way of twisting his words to suit her needs. "You shouldn't be touching things when you have no idea what it does especially if you have the ATA gene."

"I'm a kid. It's what I do," the girl smirked. "Hi, Carson." Abigail put on her most innocent face.

"Abigail," Jennifer looked at her daughter. "No touching strange things."

"Like him," the girl pointed at Radek with a wicked grin. "Are we ready to go home yet?" Abigail pouted as she looked at her mother. She was more than ready to go home, back to her own stuff and she thought that heading back to Colorado was the only way to get her father better.

"Just about. Carson was just going to get your dad so we can go home," the worried woman put her hands on Abigail's shoulders. "I think you should apologize to Radek before we leave."

"Sorry," she said half-heartedly as the girl wrapped her arms around her mother. Abigail really was not sorry as she was only obeying her mother. "Too bad I'm never going to see you ever again. It so breaks my heart." The sarcasm was back again. "Let's go get him," the child tugged on Jennifer's shirt.

Jennifer shook her head, unsure of what she was going to do about everything, "Come on." She took Abigail's hand and headed toward the infirmary.

It was several hours later, ten hours by to Arthur's calculation that the family of four left the SGC after their arrival. Jennifer and Carson had Rodney put in a private area of infirmary. Everyone's hopes were dashed when his condition had not changed, but deep down Jennifer knew the chances were slim, if nonexistent that bringing her husband back to Earth would cause him to wake up. Sometimes wishes do not come true and this was one of those times. Once she saw Zoe fall asleep on a spare bed, the mother knew she had to take the children home.

Carson had offered to drive the family back to the house, but Jennifer wanted the time alone with her children and Arthur pointed out that the SUV had a GPS so they could not get lost. The ride back to the house was in almost complete silence, as the two girls had both fallen asleep and Arthur stared out the window.

Jennifer felt herself get more nervous the closer they got to the house. She knew it was an irrational fear, but she felt as if this was something she should be doing with Rodney by her side.

When they pulled up to the house some of the lights were on and a motorcycle was parked in the driveway.

"Uncle John must be home," Arthur pointed to the house. "Sometimes he isn't home for weeks."

"Abigail, Zoe. We're home," the mother tried to wake her daughters.

"Finally home," Abigail said with a small smirk.

"Does this mean daddy is awake?" Zoe rubbed her eyes sleepily.

Jennifer looked sadly at her youngest, "Not yet, Shorty." She picked the girl up out of her car seat.

"Don't call me that. Only daddy calls me that," the young girl pouted. "I want my own bed. I hated sharing with them."

"You have your own room back tonight. No more sharing," she rubbed Zoe's back.

"Good. Arthur farts too much at night," Zoe made a face at her brother.

Arthur rolled his eyes, "And you kick hard and Abigail snores louder than dad."

"Let's get inside," Jennifer shook her head, finding the bantering amusing. Being an only child she didn't get to experience it.

It took close to an hour to get all three children tucked into their beds. Arthur had been insistent on giving her a tour of the house and Jennifer told him he could show her in the morning. Abigail wanted Oreos and milk before she would even think about settling in and Zoe insisted on three bedtime stories

Jennifer wondered where John was as Arthur had said he was home, but the man had not made an appearance. Before she would seek him out, she needed to change out of these clothes. Not having any of her own clothes here, she borrowed pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt from Rodney's drawers. She sat on the edge of the bed and drew her knees toward her chest. It felt like Rodney was close as his scent filtered through her senses. The worried wife was about to leave the room when she saw a small frame with a picture from their wedding day. It had been a candid shot where Rodney was attempting to pick her up and she had been yelling at him to put her down. It was obvious that she was yelling and Rodney had a huge smile on his face.

"I can give myself a little tour," she headed down the stairs.

"Thought you would never come down," John said as he watched as Jennifer come down the stairs. "I wanted to give you time to settle in before I came and said hello." He was amazed that Jennifer was standing only feet from him.

"Thanks for that," Jennifer said with a yawn. "Is it usually this difficult to get them all asleep?"

Sheppard shrugged, "No. Usually Rodney has no problems with bed time. It's really good to see you." He pulled Jennifer into a hug, "You know this isn't right." John said about Rodney not being here.

"I know," a sad smile formed. "This house is so intimidating. I almost feel like an outsider. "

"This is your home too," he reminded her. "In anticipation of you coming I picked up a six pack of your favorite beer. I thought you might need it after everything."

"I really could use one, but I'm going to have to pass. I can't drink in my condition."

"Your condition?" it took a moment for John to catch on. "Wait? Already? You two don't waste any time. Congrats."

Jennifer sat down on the couch, the exhaustion hitting her, "Thanks and because of the miracle of time dilation I have the longest human pregnancy ever."

"Still my comment about not wasting time stands." When he first met Rodney, John thought he would be the last person to have kids especially after M7G-677.

"I'm starting to think someone had it out for us. Like some kind of force keeps on trying to pull us apart. I just want things to go smoothly for once. Is that too much to ask?" the woman drew an unsteady breath.

"Not at all," John offered a hand to help her off the couch. "Why don't we go and sit on the patio. It always helps to clear our heads."

"Thank you."

"For what?" Sheppard asked.

"For being there for Rodney all these years. I can't imagine how hard it had been for him. I'm having a hard enough time as it is with him in a coma. You've always been a good friend to him and I know he appreciates it."

John shrugged off the emotional moment, "He's been more of a brother to me than Dave ever has been. We even bicker like brothers."

"I've noticed. Would you mind if I want to be alone? I just need some time to sort everything out unwind," Jennifer looked out over the view. She could see why Rodney liked spending time alone out here.

"Sure," he nodded. "If you need anything you know where to find me."

"Thank you," she returned to enjoying the view and letting herself get lost in her thoughts.

* * *

Rodney found himself sitting at his and Jennifer's bench on the south pier watching the waves crash into the pier below. Nothing showed up on his scans or blood work, leaving him to wonder what was causing blinding pain and auditory hallucinations. The distressed man started to think that he would never see home again. Never see his children again. Never get to hold the sons that were to be born eight months from now. He took a deep breath as a gentle breeze blew across his face and realized that being stuck in an alternate universe would have been easier if this one was not such a close copy to his. Feeling homesick, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his cell phone and started looking at the pictures he had stored on the device. Just as Rodney stopped on a picture of him with his three children at Arthur's birthday party a month ago, he felt a presence standing behind him.

"Nice picture," Jennifer said looking over his shoulder to look at the picture. She knew it had to be difficult to be away from his family. "When was it taken?"

"Last month at Arthur's birthday party," he replied, putting the phone back in his pocket. Rodney turned around and saw the woman was not alone.

"He wanted to see you. Hope you don't mind that I brought him by."

He shook his head, "It's fine." Rodney was actually glad to see the little boy. "Hi," he waved to Little Rodney.

"Hi," the boy waved back and started to wiggle out of his mother's arms.

"Would you mind if I left him with you for a while? I've got a few projects to work on and he didn't want to go with anyone else. He kept on asking for you." Jennifer really did not want to put this on him, but she was at wits end how to handle the child. "He's going through the terrible twos."

"Been there and still going through it, but it's been the threes, fours and now into fives. I can handle it. Go and do whatever you have to do. The two of us will be fine. I'll find something to keep him busy," he thought this would be a welcome distraction and wondered what kind of trouble the two with the same name could stir up.

"Thank you. It really means a lot," Jennifer put Little Rodney down who ran over to the older one.

Rodney smiled, "Really it's not a problem." He picked up the small boy and placed him on his knee. "We are going to have some fun aren't we? Say bye to your mommy?"

"Bye?" the child looked up for a second and waved his mother off before ignoring her. "We have fun?"

"We are. Let's go build something and make it explode. Would you like that?" Big Rodney could be such a kid at times. For the rest of the afternoon mini-explosions and a lot of laughter from the two Rodneys was heard off the east pier.


	12. Chapter 12

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis, but the McKay children are of my creation

**A/N: Please leave reviews. They are always welcome. Thanks to Shadows-of-Realm for the Beta and thank you to all who are following this tale.**

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**Chapter 12- Awakening**

John had been enjoying a rare day off and the house was quiet as the kids were enjoying or despising their third day at school, it depended on which one you asked: Arthur loved second grade, Abigail found first grade boring and wanted to be in class with her brother and Zoe was indifferent to Pre-K. As for Jennifer, she was at her mid-pregnancy ultrasound to learn the sex of the twins she was carrying. It had been almost four months since the McKay's had returned from Atlantis and Rodney's condition had not changed one bit. The rest of them were trying to get through each day and hope that Rodney would wake up soon.

He grabbed a beer out of the fridge and sat on the couch and was about to put in Madden NFL 17 for PS4 when he heard the doorbell ring. "Coming," he yelled as he went toward the door. "Jeannie?" the man asked as he opened the door. She was the last person that he expected to see. If he recalled correctly the last words he heard Rodney say to her were _"You are dead to me." _That was two years ago.

"John," Jeannie addressed the man in front of her. She was here at Madison's insistence because she had not heard from her uncle in over three months and she was worried and Jeannie became worried when her phone calls for the past week went unanswered and unreturned.

"Hi. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Is my brother around?" she asked, getting to the point.

"Why don't you come in," John moved aside. He was not sure how she would take the news of what happened to Rodney. Even with them not talking for two years; family was still family .

Jeannie did not like that tone and she was sure she was not going to like his answer.

"Why don't you sit down," he motioned over to the living room couch.

Now she knew something was wrong, really wrong. "Where is my brother? Something happened to him, didn't it?" Even though it had been a long time since she talked to him, she did not want anything bad to have happened to him.

John nodded as he sat on the couch next to her, "There was an accident almost four months ago..."

"Four months?" Jeannie exclaimed. "Mer's not dead is he?" If that had been the case she would be really upset that she was not told.

He shook his head, "No...no. It's nothing like that. He's in a coma, but breathing on his own. There is no reason why he hasn't regained consciousness yet." John knew he could not tell her much more because it was classified and Rodney had pulled some strings to have Jeannie's clearance revoked after their fight.

"A coma? What happened?" she asked.

"Sorry, can't go into specifics," John frowned. "You know how that goes."

Jeannie sighed, feeling frustrated that she could not get more out of him. She was not sure if he was not being forth coming because of standing orders from Rodney not to involve her or if he really could not tell her because clearance issues. "What about Arthur, Abigail and Zoe? They must be terrified."

"They are coping the best they can given the situation. They are tough kids. They went back to school a few days ago so that's keeping them busy," he answered. "They see their father every day. So that helps."

"Have you been taking care of them?" the aunt had to question who was watching the three young kids. Jeannie was not sure if she liked the idea of the kids being cared for by some who was not blood related to them. Her brother was definitely closer to the Air Force colonel than she was and wondered if her brother had a directive that John was supposed to take care of the kids if something were ever to happen to him.

John shook his head, "Just been helping out like I always have. Their..." he was cut off by the slamming of the front door.

"I don't see what the big deal is. All I did was give her a haircut," Abigail's voice came from the entranceway.

A wall blocked Jeannie's view to see who had come in with her niece. She wondered whom her brother had chosen to take care of his children, as it had always been a sore subject when she tried to broach the subject with him in the past.

"Abigail, you cut off one of her pigtails and it got you suspended for two days and it's only three days into the school year," Jennifer yelled at her daughter. She imagined that this is why Rodney had told her that Abigail was the most difficult to raise. The girl had been well behaved since their return to Earth and this was the first time she had acted out since on Atlantis. "Now up to your room and stay there."

The child rolled her eyes and sighed with extreme annoyance, "First grade in so boring. Everyone is sooooooo stupid." Abigail stomped up the stairs.

"Abigail, enough!" Jennifer sighed as she sat on the stairs, rubbing her stomach, "Quiet down you two." She heard the door to the girl's room slam shut. With a groan she pushed herself up, "Are you going to let me eat something before we go see your daddy?" The mother made her way to the kitchen in search of lunch.

"Is that?" Jeannie asked, easily recognizing Jennifer's voice. She was shocked and had no idea how this was possible. "How?"

John nodded, "It is." He stood up and nodded toward the kitchen. "So what's the verdict, doc? What are you bringing into the world this time?" he asked as he entered the kitchen.

Jeannie stayed back as John went to talk to her apparently back from the dead sister-in-law. She was sure Rodney had given her an earful about what happened between them and she did not want to upset Jennifer more than she already sounded.

"Two boys. Both of which have been very active all day. It feels like they are having a boxing match in there," Jennifer turned from the cabinet with a box of Smores Pop Tarts in hand. "This is what they want today," she said with a slight laugh.

He laughed, "Now I know those kids are Rodney's. You have broken into his secret stash of Pop Tarts. If he was here he'd have something to say about it."

"I don't think so," she said with a slight smirk. "His sons need to eat after all." After today Jennifer was glad she was pregnant with boys. "Besides I would share. Three for me and one for him."

"Did you tell him yet?" John asked, knowing she spent several hours every day at her husband's bedside. He could see the exhaustion on her face. Between spending a good part of the day at the infirmary with Rodney then to come home and take care of three kids and all while pregnant with twins he knew it had to be taking a lot out of her and John pitched in when he could. Sheppard would never it aloud, but at times, he envied his best friend and his wife as they had that one in a million kind of love that so few truly find. So many things had been thrown at them and they always seemed to bounce back closer than ever and once Rodney woke up John knew this time would be no different.

Jennifer shook her head, "I was on my way to the SGC when I got the call from the school." She looked over and saw Jeannie standing at the doorway and a deep frown formed on her face, "What is she doing here?" Rodney had told her why he did not speak to his sister anymore and she had left room for her husband's exaggeration, but the pregnant woman did not want to have anything to do with the woman who was trying to convince Rodney to replace her in his life. There was no doubt that hormones played a role in the negative reaction to her sister-in-law.

Jeannie knew she had that coming as her eyes fell to Jennifer's stomach. "Twins?"

The pregnant woman instinctively covered her stomach, "Yes. Two boys." Jennifer was clearly not happy to have this woman in her house. As she saw it, there was nothing she wanted to say to her sister-in-law. "I'll be out on the patio," she said to John, grabbing the box of Pop Tarts before she left.

"Oh, wow. I did not expect that," she wondered what tale Rodney had told his wife about their fight.

John did not expect Jennifer's reaction to be like that, "She is having a rough time of it all. Spends hours every day at the SGC with him and does everything for Rodney too and then comes home with the kids and has to take care of them. Jennifer is under a lot of stress. Give her time." He had heard from Dr. Lam that Jennifer shaved Rodney three times a week as well as gave him a sponge bath every other day and everyday did PT for him so Rodney's muscles would not atrophy.

"Can I see my brother?" Jeannie asked, hopeful that she would have something better to go back to Madison at the hotel with.

John shrugged. "I'm not sure. You know your security clearance was pulled after everything. It could take a few days for me to pull some strings with Landry to get you into the SGC. How soon do you have to be back in Vancouver?"

"I should have figured," the woman sighed. "I have a few days before I have to go back. Here is my cell number," Jeannie jotted her phone number on a piece of paper. "Call me if anything changes. Can you answer me one question? Does Mer's being in a coma have to do anything with Jennifer being alive?"

The tall man nodded, "Trying to figure out the how. Sorry, can't give you more. I'll give you a call tomorrow." John shrugged and led her back to the door. "I'll talk to Jennifer and see if she has calmed down."

"Thanks, John," Jeannie was glad that John was willing to help her, but she also could see where her sister-in-law was coming from and knew the pregnant woman had to be under a great deal of stress.

Once he saw Jeannie off, John headed to the patio where Jennifer was sitting with her box of Pop Tarts. "Are you okay?"

Jennifer gave the dark hair man a dirty look, "I don't want that thing near my husband. Why couldn't she just mind her own business?"

John did not know what to do, "She is worried too."

The enraged woman shook her head, "She tried to convince Rodney to replace me. He told me the whole story. She doesn't deserve to see him and Rodney wouldn't want her there anyway." Jennifer was satisfied with her rant.

"Okay," he said, knowing that it was time to back off. John did not want to face the wrath of a pregnant woman. "I'm going to get that," he said, hearing the phone ring in the kitchen.

* * *

Rodney was ecstatic that after all this time he finally got power to the device. It had only taken three and half months to accomplish. After the first month of working on it daily he started to give up hope that getting home was going to be impossible. As the days passed, Rodney worked on the device a little less each day and opted to spend more time with Jennifer and her children. It helped only a little to ease the pain of being separated from his family.

The Canada native had practically barricaded himself in the lab since early morning because he had to distance himself from Jennifer and her children after what transpired the previous evening. He had gone on a walk with Jennifer after dinner and as they watched the sun set both momentarily let their guards down and shared a fiery kiss. The two agreed that they were both trying to fill the void of them missing their respective spouses. Rodney knew he was getting too comfortable in this reality and he needed to get back to his own.

One obstacle out was of out the way, now that he had power the only thing left was to find a way to open another space-time bridge so he can get home. Home to his children and home to his wife where they could finally continue the life they were meant to live.

"You are leaving? What did you do to my mom? She came back from dinner crying and I know she was with you," Elizabeth stood at the door, wanting answers from him. "She had been happy up until last night."

Rodney looked up briefly from his device, "It's adult stuff and it's not fair to anyone to have me sticking around."

The girl hated when adults used that excuse and knew it was code for _mind your own business._"Whatever happened, you don't have to leave. We like having you here."

"I can't. What about my family? They need me."

"What about us? We need you too," Elizabeth pleaded, on the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry. I just can't," Rodney closed his eyes. He should never have let himself grown close with the six kids, knowing there would be a day he was going to return to his home.

"Not fair," the precocious girl reached to put a hand on the device with the rational that if the device broke that he would never have to leave.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"Making sure you stay," Elizabeth threw the machinery to the floor. Instead of breaking normally, the device shattered into hundreds of pieces as if it were made of glass rather than metal.

Rodney looked in horror as the a few of the sharper pieces became imbedded into Elizabeth's neck. "Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!" he yelled out in horror, not noticing the pieces that punctured his side. Rodney was not able to save his Elizabeth and he was not going to fail this one. "It's going to be okay," he put pressure on the wound to help slow the bleeding. He knew how dangerous it was to pull out the shards himself. The frantic man radioed for a medical team. "Just you hold on, I'm not going to let you die. I'm going to save you this time."

"Mommy. She blames you for letting me die. You were supposed to be watching me. Why did you let me die?" Elizabeth spoke her final words before she took her last breath.

"Not again," Rodney was shaking as the girl's last words haunted him. They were too eerily familiar; he recognized them as what the hallucination of his Elizabeth said to him on the day of her funeral. He cried out as everything went black.

* * *

"Why?" Rodney yelled as he opened his eyes and sprung up to a seated position quickly. A quick glance around the room told him he was no longer in Atlantis, but the infirmary at the SGC. The sudden sitting up and yell took a lot of energy and Rodney collapsed back on the bed.

Carson had been startled by the scream behind him, "It's about bloody time." He was relieved to see Rodney finally wake. After all this time, he had started to doubt that the man would ever wake. "Just take it easy," the Scot tried to calm him friend.

Rodney's eyes darted around the room, trying to figure how he got back to the SGC. "Elizabeth..."

"What about her?" Carson asked.

"I tried to save her. The explosion...the shards of metal went into her neck. There was nothing I could do. She's going to hate me all over again," tears stained his face.

"Rodney, what are you talking about?" Carson had no idea what explosion the other man was going on about or what Elizabeth he was referring to. "No one died in an explosion."

Rodney shook his head, "Yes, she did. There was so much blood. I'm never going to get home." He still thought he was stuck in the alternate universe and he grew more agitated by the second.

"Get home?" Carson was lost now. "You have to keep calm," he did not know what else to do to keep his friend calm.

"Don't play stupid with me. I know this is not the reality I come from. I'm not going to see my sons be born."

Carson wondered where the surge of energy was coming from. For a person who had been in a coma for almost four months Rodney was too alert and he thought something had to cause a rush of adrenaline for him to be like this. "Rodney, you've been in a coma for almost four months." He was not sure he believed that coma patients could hear what was going around them, but somehow Rodney knew his wife was pregnant.

"That's not possible," Rodney could feel the rush of energy dissipating. "I'm real tired, Carson." He looked under the covers and saw no injury to his side where the metal had impaled him.

"Just get some rest. I'm going to let Jennifer know you are awake." If Rodney was not going to listen to him Carson knew he would listen to his wife.

* * *

"It's for you," John held out the cordless phone. "It's Carson."

Jennifer could tell by the look on John's face the news was good. It was the news she had been waiting for since they arrived back on Earth. "Tell him I'll be right there and can you pick Arthur and Zoe up from school and bring them and Abigail to the SGC?"

"Will do. Now go yell at him for taking so long to wake up."


	13. Chapter 13

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis, but the McKay children are of my creation

**A/N: Please leave reviews. They are always welcome. Thanks to ****Shadows-of-Realm for the Beta.**

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Chapter 13- Family Reunion

Jennifer made it to the SGC in record time and was surprised that she had not been pulled over by the police. When she got to the infirmary, the relieved wife did not see Carson or Carolyn, as she wanted to get an update on how Rodney was doing before she went to see him. When she got to his bedside the man's eyes were closed, but it was a good sign that a soft snore could be heard and he was slightly curled up on his side. All signs he was asleep. Not wanting to disturb her husband, Jennifer pulled up a chair next to the bed and just watched, as she had done every day for almost the past four months. Except this time, he was going to wake up at any minute.

When Rodney opened his eyes an hour later he still felt like he could sleep for another ten hours, but now he had company that he wanted to stay awake for. "Hey," he said still feeling confused as to which reality he was in.

"Hey, yourself. I was starting to think you would never open your eyes. I've missed you," she smiled.

"You did? Even after I let her die again?" he asked, shifting his body to get comfortable. Rodney sighed heavily as he up looked at the ceiling. "Why bring me back here? To torture? I'm never going to get back now," there was a sound of defeat in his voice as if all hope was lost.

Jennifer was thrown by his words, "What are you talking about?" she wondered if he was having some side effects of being unconscious for so long. "Do you know who I am?"

The confused man looked at her as if she was crazy, "Of course I do, Jennifer. Do you know who I am?" he asked in all seriousness.

"Do you want the long or short version, my dear husband?" she squeezed Rodney's hand.

"There is more than one version?" Rodney asked, growing more confused when she called him her husband. Was there a chance that the explosion had actually sent him home? The tired man lifted his head to look over the edge of the bed and fell back, relieved when he saw the baby bump. "Made it back after all."

"Yes, you did. It's about time too," Jennifer was glad that he was finally awake and somewhat alert. She knew the confusion would clear eventually and Rodney would be back to his old self. "John is bringing the kids by after school. They'll be happy to see you awake."

"School? They already went back? How long was I gone for?" he pulled his hand out of Jennifer's and reached out to touch her stomach. "How are my two boys?"

The wife could only smile when her husband's hand went to her stomach and she moved closer so his hand could reach. "They went back a couple of days ago and you've been unconscious for almost four months," Jennifer put her hand over his on her stomach. "They are fine, but very hyper today. How did you know? I only found out this morning they were boys." She winced as she felt a kick to her rib cage.

"Unconscious? None of it was real," his face fell. Carson had tried to say the same thing, but he believed it coming from Jennifer. "I really wasn't transported to an alternate universe? I know they are boys the same way I know they were conceived in the jumper after the Christmas party. The bruise isn't the only thing I left you with from that wild night."

Jennifer shook her head, "No. There was an explosion when you were working on the device and you've been in a coma ever since."

"But it seemed so real. All of it," Rodney was not sure if this news good or bad and right now the most important thing was he was back where he belonged.

"What happened? What did you see?" she asked, worried about him.

The tired man shook his head, "Doesn't matter now." Rodney just did not want to talk about it. Having watch Elizabeth die in whatever he just experienced brought back all the old pain from the first time losing her and he did not want to have to burden Jennifer with that. Rodney shifted to get in a semi-seated position to make room for his wife on the bed, "Come here."

"Are you sure?" Jennifer asked as she got onto the bed, being mindful of Rodney and her stomach. It took several moments, but she found a comfortable position where the weak man leaned against her for support while not putting too much weight on her stomach.

"Much better," he hated that he was too weak to sit up on his own. "At least this gives me an excuse to be close to you." Rodney walked his fingers across the pregnant stomach, "We are not naming them after me. Promise me that."

Jennifer was concerned, "We won't. We'll figure out what to call our boys." She put her arm around her husband and pressed her lips to his temple. "You know I love you, right?"

He smiled weakly, "That was never something I doubted. Who else would have six kids with me and still say they love me?"

"Only my soul mate," Jennifer said as she watched him struggle to stay awake. "It's okay to sleep, sweetheart. I'm not going anywhere. I'll still be here when you wake up."

Rodney nodded sleepily as his head came to rest on her chest, "You know she was there where ever I went to. Elizabeth was there." The closer he got to sleep the more he let his defences down.

That news stabbed at her heart a little, "Tell me about it later. You can tell me all about it later." She did not bother moving his head from her chest and started to rub the back of his neck.

"Tell me what I missed with our three," he sighed feeling content as Jennifer lulled him toward sleep quickly.

"Guess I'll start with the bad news first; your mini-me has already managed to get herself suspended from school. She cut off a pigtail of one of the girl's in her class. Carmen something or other and she is at the house with John right now."

"Tell her you will pull her out of piano classes until she stays out of trouble for two months. She'll hate that," Rodney half-mumbled as sleep got closer.

"Arthur and Zoe have been good. He is having fun in second grade. Zoe is not sure about pre-K. We've all missed you and are happy to have you back," Jennifer looked down and saw that he had fallen back asleep. "Just rest. There will be plenty of time to catch up." The pregnant woman shifted to a more comfortable position so that she was lying down and that Rodney was still in a comfortable position. She felt as if everything was finally falling back into place and felt tears come to her eyes as she saw Rodney's hand firmly planted protectively over her stomach. Jennifer kissed to top of his head, "Thank you for coming back to us." For the first time all day the two boys growing inside her calmed down, "You wanted your daddy. Is that all?" It was not long before Jennifer joined her husband in sleep.

* * *

John was locked in an intense staring match with Abigail as the elevator descended to take the floor to the infirmary. "You are not going to win," he challenged the child.

Abigail turned up her lip, "You're on. Why didn't mom take me with her when she left the house? Why did I have to wait until you picked them up from school?"

"Shut up for once, brat," Arthur was clearly annoyed at his sister. "Why do you always have to get in trouble? I really hate you at times."

"Yeah me too," Zoe chimed in, agreeing with her brother.

"Well I hate you both too," the girl was hurt by the rejection from her siblings. Abigail crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the floor. Her bottom lip was quivering as the five year old was on the verge of tears.

This was why he never wanted kids, the ganging up on one child by the rest. "Hey... Hey. No one hates anyone. Behave. All of you." John hated to play referee, but an intervention was needed. "And you mom probably wanted to see if your dad was really okay before brining you here." Moreover, since he did not hear from Jennifer he assumed all was well and he thought the parents needed to talk before the children came in.

"Not fair," Abigail pouted.

"Give it a rest," Arthur was still annoyed with the constant thorn in his side. "Mom probably told him you got in trouble so he's going to be mad at you."

"She wouldn't do that," the girl shoved her brother.

"Yes, she would. Why do you think she did not take you with her?" he returned the favour by punching Abigail in the arm.

John had about all he could take, "Enough!" He yelled as the elevator doors opened at their destination. "I'll take the two of you back home if you don't cut it out." The annoyed colonel took both children by the arm to keep them apart. "Lead the way, Zoe." John exited the elevator with the ones he had labelled as brats for the day.

"Okay, Uncle John," Zoe smirked smugly at her two older siblings as she headed toward the infirmary. "You two are going to get in trouble," she said in a sing-song voice to tease Abigail and Arthur.

"Not you too," John sighed as the youngest McKay child joined in on the multiple-sibling battle.

"What?" Zoe asked with her childlike innocence. "Is daddy going to be able to talk to me when I see him?"

"I don't see why not. I'm sure he will be happy to see you," Sheppard entered the infirmary still holding Arthur and Abigail apart. He had to smile as the couple was curled up together with Rodney's hand protecting his unborn sons.

"But you said he would be able to talk to us," Abigail pouted and stomped her feet.

"He will be when he and your mom wake up from their nap," John let go of the kids' arms. The sleeping couple always looked comfortable in each other's arms and sometimes he regretted not being remarried and having children. He saw the effect it had on Rodney and sometimes he wanted that life for himself. If someone could go from a cranky child-hater to doting father as Rodney had then there was hope for him.

Zoe was the first to go to her father's bedside, "Are they going to love the new babies more than us?" When she had asked for a baby as a birthday gift she never thought that it would happen and she had only asked for one, not two.

"They love you all the same, Zoe," he tried to ease the child's fear.

"Not with Abigail if she keeps getting into trouble," Arthur grinned and stuck his tongue out at the trouble maker.

Abigail gave her brother the middle finger, "You are a shrivelled up old hag." She had heard her father refer to his sister as that on a number of occasions and knew it was not nice.

Rodney heard the old hag line, but kept his eyes shut as he was too tired to deal with the bickering. _John can deal with them._

Jennifer heard the same line and knew by her husband's breathing that he was awake too. She knew Abigail picked up the hag line from her father. "We should stop them," she whispered, rubbing the back of Rodney's neck.

Rodney sighed as if it were a strain for him to talk, "Arthur, no computer or video games for two weeks and Abigail, no piano lessons for three months." He had only planned on two months but the hag line added a month to her sentence.

"What about me, daddy?" Zoe asked as she poked her father's arm.

He slowly pushed himself up, reluctantly leaving the comfort of Jennifer's arms, "How about a hug, Shorty?" It was a chore to even sit up. He hoped that his energy would return soon.

Jennifer knew this was the moment her children had waited months for and she moved to the chair she had been sitting in earlier, "Thanks for bringing them, John."

"Not a problem. Perfect little angels as always," the sarcasm was obvious and the parents would know better that their kids were far from perfect little angels. "Also wanted to check on sleepy head." John looked at Rodney and shook his head. "Don't you dare scare us like that again!"

Zoe crawled onto the bed and hugged her father tightly, never wanting to let go. "I missed you, daddy. Please don't go to sleep for that long again."

"I won't. I promise. Have you been good for your mom?" Rodney kissed his daughter on the cheek.

Zoe nodded, "Of course." She then leaned in to whisper. "You were right, she is cool. Can we keep her? I like having a mommy and thank you for getting me the baby I wanted, but I only want one. Can you send one back when they come?"

This was one of the moments why Rodney loved being a father and made him wonder why he did not do this sooner. The answer to that was simple; he had not met Jennifer yet. "I told you. I was planning to keep her around no matter what. She keeps me well behaved. And no, we can't send either of your brothers back. Your mom and I want both of them."

The young child scrunched up her nose, "More boys? Why can't I have a sister? I want one that I like," Zoe whispered the last line so Abigail could not hear her.

"Zoe, be nice," he lightly admonished the child and then looked over two the two oldest, "Aren't the two of you going to say hello?" The littlest girl got of the bed and went to sit next to her mother.

"Hey, what about me? I'm here too," John teased as he felt left out of the reunion.

"Unless you want a hug and a kiss I would keep quiet if I were you," Rodney made kissing sounds toward his friend. His sense of humour was firmly intact.

"That's okay," John laughed as he backed away from the bed. "I'm going to let the five of you catch up. I'll check on you later, Meredith." Using his first name was payback for the kissing sounds.

Arthur smiled at his father, "Welcome back, dad." He gave a tentative hug to his father as he was getting to that age where it was not cool to hug your parents. "No more girly stuff please. Zoe wants to paint my fingernails."

"Just let her do it once. It will stop the whining. It works all the time with your mother. Umm forget I said that," Rodney saw the stern look from Jennifer and he responded by giving the cutest pout possible.

Jennifer could only shake her head and laugh. She was glad he was quickly showing signs of being his old self, "You are lucky you are cute and I love you." after all these years she still loved the glint of mischief in his eyes when Rodney was in a playful mood and the subtle twitch in the corner of his lips.

"Soul mate to use your words from before," he leaned over and quickly pecked her on the lips.

"Eww. That's gross," Zoe made a face at the display of affection.

Arthur and Abigail were about to put in their two cents when they were stopped by their father. "It's not gross. We haven't seen each other in a long time. Have to make up for lost time." After he said that, Rodney realized that was not the best thing to say to children. "Never mind I said that. It's an adult thing." He looked at his oldest daughter that was standing far away from the bed, "Abigail, what are you doing over there?"

"I don't want to be yelled at," the soft reply came the scared five year old.

"Come here," the father beckoned Abigail to come closer.

Abigail obeyed however reluctantly, "Yes, daddy?"

"Sit next to me," Rodney patted the empty spot next to him, which was just enough room for her to fit.

"You aren't going to leave us, right?" Tears threatened to fall as she sat and wrapped her arms tightly around him, afraid if she let go he would be gone again. "First mommy left and then came back and then you left and came back. Why did you do that?"

This moment was one of the hard parts of being a parent, trying to explain a difficult situation to them, "The same piece of machine that hurt her also hurt me, but it's gone now and it won't hurt any of us again. I've missed you, my little devil."

As tough as Abigail liked to pretend she was, she still was a scared child afraid her daddy was going to leave her again. "I'm sorry for being bad. I love you, daddy," she started to cry. All the fears and negative feelings poured forth as she finally felt safe and loved in the comforting embrace of her father.

It broke Rodney's heart to see his child so upset, "Shh. It's going to be okay, Abigail. Don't cry. None of us are going anywhere."He rubbed the girl's back, trying his best to comfort her.

"Don't break your promise this time," Abigail dried her eyes and wiped her nose on Rodney's shirt.

"I won't," he tried to reassure the whole family. This moment was a long time coming, they were finally getting back the life that had been ripped from them that dark December afternoon three and half years ago.


	14. Chapter 14

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis, but the McKay children are of my creation

**A/N: Please leave reviews. They are always welcome. Thanks to **Shadow for the Beta and for putting up with me with this chapter where you need to add more became a 1200 word addition. Thanks.

* * *

**Chapter 14- We are Family?**

Abigail looked at the wall of candy, trying to pick something out for her father until she saw fudge covered Oreos on the shelf behind her, "Perfect." The girl greedily grabbed the package, looking to see where her mother was, but saw a short, balding man whose little hair he had left looked like it was caught in a windstorm. He reminded the girl of Radek, but this man had at least twenty years on him. "What?" she asked in a snide tone as she looked over the man in disgust.

Michael looked at the slightly chubby girl with the big attitude. "You shouldn't eat those. They make you fat."

"Excuse me?" the girl asked, wondering if the strange man had any idea what she was capable of. "They are for my dad who's in the hospital. Shouldn't you brush what is left of your hair?"

"Umm," Michael started fixing the little hair he had left. He had escaped his keeper, better known as his daughter in the freezer section and knew she would be looking for him any moment. "You two should be eating healthier. Try some fruit, Oranges are on sale today."

Abigail scrunched up her nose, "Can't. My dad and I are both allergic to them. Try again old man. What does it matter what we eat? It's none of your business. Old people can be so stupid." She rolled her eyes in classic McKay fashion.

"Who are you calling old, missy?" he was not going to back down from a smart-mouth child who did not know her place.

"Um, you. Wouldn't surprise me that you don't know since you obviously have not looked in a mirror lately." The brazen child scowled at the stupidity of some adults.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" Michael had to wonder why the child was not in school.

"I got suspended. Don't go back until Monday," Abigail always had an answer for everything.

"You must make your parents so proud. Just like a little juvenile delinquent," he assumed the child was not old enough to understand what the word meant, but then if she was anything like his son she might and her attitude reminded Michael of him.

"Oh using big words. I'm not a delinquent. You thought I didn't know that meant. I'll be six in four months. Don't treat me like I'm stupid. I'm a genius," she also had her father's ego, making her a devil in angel packaging.

Michael was not sure, "And who says you are a genius? You sure think a lot of yourself for someone who got them self suspended from school."

Abigail again rolled her eyes, "Genetics says that it is a high probability. Having two parents who are geniuses makes it a one in four chance I would have inherited their intellect and since there are three of us, let's just say that signs so far point to me being the smartest." The child turned her head when she heard her mother's raised voice, thinking she was going to get in trouble for something she braced herself, but was relieved when she saw her yelling at someone else and it was someone she recognized. "What is the bitter shrivelled hag doing here?"

"Excuse me?" the older man asked as he looked over the two women yelling. Michael knew one of them, it was his daughter Jeannie and by looking at the other woman he saw the resemblance to the precocious child he was talking to, "Do you know them?"

"What's it any of your business? I shouldn't even be talking to you, but you remind me of one of my dad's former underlings. Short, messy hair and weird. Why are you talking to me anyway? You are not some creep that has got a think for little girls?" Abigail looked the man over.

Michael shook his head, "I'm waiting for my daughter." He wondered if this girl knew Jeannie, as he was not sure which of the women Abigail had called a hag.

"Yeah, sure," she said with a dramatic eye roll.

* * *

Jennifer had been picking up a few items in the store to bring to Rodney as his appetite had returned and oddly enough he was complaining about the food in the infirmary. She had let Abigail go down the snack aisle to pick something out for her father, but made sure she was close enough to alert if anything was wrong. She rubbed her stomach as she felt the boys moving, "We are going to see him soon. Just getting some food for daddy so please go easy on me." This was definitely her most difficult of Jennifer's pregnancies between the horrid morning sickness that had only disappeared two weeks ago to be replaced by the kicking and moving. She had picked up some prepared dishes from the hot case and put them in the basket. "What do you want?" the now annoyed woman growled at the person in front of her.

Jeannie had seen the mother and daughter enter the store and she debated on talking to them. Several days had passed since their run in at the house, she had not heard from John, and Madison had been pestering her for an answer. "I haven't heard from John and I was wondering..." she was stopped by Jennifer's raised hand.

"Rodney doesn't want to see you. I'm not going to repeat his exact words. He said he can't move past what you did to him and I agree," she did not care if Jeannie intentions had been well meaning it still stung that she had suggested that her husband move on. She of all people should have known better with everything they had been through.

"Mer is awake?" Jeannie had to ask for clarification, but her words implied that she had talked to him recently.

"Yes. He's going to be fine," Jennifer knew she deserved to know that much, but it did not change the fact that Rodney did not want to have anything to do with his sister.

Something had been nagging at Jeannie ever since she saw Jennifer the other day. She could not understand where her sister-in-law had been all this time and how quickly she got pregnant. Part of her wondered if she returned already pregnant. "So, where have you been all this time? Leaving my brother destroyed and to raise his three kids on his own. Isn't it convenient that you got pregnant so quickly after coming back into their lives? How do I know you did not come back pregnant?" With as upset as she was with Rodney she did not want him go be hurt any more than he already was. Jeannie had to help pick up the pieces of his shattered life when they all thought Jennifer was dead and she would do anything to stop him from having to go through that again.

Jennifer narrowed her eyes and found a new level of loathing for the woman in front of her for even suggesting that she would hurt her husband. "How dare you," she tightly clenched her fists, fighting the urge to hit Jeannie. "It wasn't my choice to be away from MY FAMILY." Something clicked in her head and her whole demeanour changed. "You know what? You're right, I did come back pregnant. You want to know how? Because that explosion threw me into a time dilation field and while almost three and half years passed for everyone else, only about an hour passed for me. I was pregnant at the time of the accident. You see we had this one evening in a jumper about a week before. I don't need to draw you a picture of what happened next, do I? So try to imagine what it is like to wake up and find out that everyone thinks you have been dead for all that time and that you've missed most of your children's lives. I don't care what you might think, but Rodney has done an excellent job raising our children." She said what had to be said and was done dealing with Jeannie. "Abigail, let's go," she called out to her daughter.

There was no way Jeannie could respond to the tirade brought down upon her. In a way she had asked for it when she pressed for answers. It was either hormones or being with Rodney so long or a combination of the two that propelled her sister-in-law to serve up the dish of snark.

Michael had watched the scene that unfolded before him and even though he did not hear the words the body language of the two women spoke of a lot of tension. He was right the child he had talked to was related to the attractive, but pregnant blonde woman. "That was an interesting confrontation. Did you even know her or did a random pregnant woman tear you a new asshole?"

Jeannie sighed and shook her head, "I know her." She noticed the man was fidgeting more than he should be, "Did you take your medication, dad?"

Michael scowled at his daughter, "I did. You don't need to baby me. I can take care of myself. I've been out of the crazy house for six months."

_After being there for twenty years. _"Look I don't think we should have come here. We should go back to Vancouver," the rejection for her brother stung more than she thought it would.

"What? Why? I came here to see my son and I won't leave here until I see him. You found something out the other day, didn't you? I know I didn't want to know what he has been up to and wanted to save that when I talked to him," he started to frown. "Can't we see him?"

Jeannie shook his head, "Me, Mer doesn't want to see us and they would never let someone like you into where he is."

"Someone like me? What do you mean someone like me? You mean someone who has been in a mental institution for twenty years?" he looked cross at that implication. "Does that attractive blonde have something to do with Meredith?"

A nod was her first response, "That's Jennifer. She's his wife."

That news shocked him, "He's married?" Last time Michael saw his son he was a socially inept thirty year old who he never thought could carry on a conversation with a woman much less get married to an attractive woman. _That means that odd child is his daughter._

"It will be seven years on Halloween."

"Things have changed since I've been away and he stopped visiting. Meredith is in the hospital?" the father recalled the conversation with Abigail when she had said as so.

"You know? How?" Jeannie had been careful not to tell her father that for fear of his reaction.

"Odd little blonde girl that is five going thirty who went running when she was called. She mentioned that her father was in hospital and just made the connection when you said the older blonde was Meredith's wife," Michael eyes narrowed toward his daughter. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"That was Abigail. She's a bit of a handful," she smirked. The child had been a handful when she was three and only imagine what she was like now.

Michael nodded, "I noticed from the short conversation I had with her. She's already labelled herself a genius."

Jeannie rolled her eyes, "The looks of her mother, but the personality of her father."

"There are two others?" he asked, trying to recall the conversation with Abigail. "Or by the looks of it, three others."

"Arthur is seven and Zoe is four. Actually, it's going to be four. Jennifer is having twins; both boys."

"And you only have the one. Why is that?" Michael questioned. "I always thought you would be the one to have a big family, not him. Five kids is a lot. Twins is a big responsibility. Do you think they are ready for this? Did you know your brother was a twin?"

Jeannie looked at her father, wondering if this was part of his mental instability talk, "Excuse me?"

"Adam died when he was four. Was not a good time for your mother and me. She blamed me for what happened."

"Is this some kind of joke, dad? Because that is not even funny. How can you joke about something like that?" Jeannie was worried that her father was having a relapse and lying about taking his medication.

"Losing a child is not something to joke about, Jeannie. It's the hardest thing a parent could ever go through." Michael was offended by his daughter's lack of belief in him.

She sighed heavily, "It's not that I don't believe you. I just wonder why you never said anything all these years."

"What because I'm crazy? What do you think started everything? I kept seeing him everywhere I went and he kept on berating me every chance he got. I haven't seen him in twenty years. Since I've been on my medication," the father was still peeved at Jeannie. "It's been the same amount of time since your brother has come and seen me."

"I wasn't suggesting that," Jeannie bit her tongue. It was a talent of the McKay men to twist your words around to suit their own needs, leaving people frustrated. "It's just a bit of a shock. Can we continue this out in the car?" She felt uncomfortable as people started to look at them.

"Embarrassed of me now are you, Jeannie Olivia?" Michael used the woman's middle name, showing his displeasure with her. "You hate when I use your middle name, don't you?" Pushing buttons is something he did well. Michael remained quiet until they were outside of the store where he saw Jennifer standing outside of her car, talking on a cell phone. "You think she is on the phone with him?"

"Probably," she noticed Jennifer's posture and smile when she was on the phone._Definitely talking to her husband._

"I want to hear what they are saying," Michael started to make his way over toward Jennifer.

"Don't," Jeannie grabbed her father's arms. "Don't. Leave her alone. Get in the car now," she felt as if she was yelling at a five year old. The panicked woman knew her brother had told everyone that his father was dead and she did not want to have another confrontation with Jennifer.

"Why must you ruin my fun? You aren't very nice to me," the elderly man slammed the car door after getting in.

Jeannie groaned, "Stop acting like a child, then. Tell me about Adam. What happened to him?" She wanted to get back to the questions his news of a dead brother created.

"He fell out of a tree," Michael's anger was gone and replaced with pain.

"What was he doing in a tree at four?" It was the first question that came to mind. She wondered why he would let a young child climb a tree.

He was really growing to resent the accusations laced with Jeannie's questions, "Your mother got called into work on her day off and left me to feed them breakfast. We had run out of milk and the only thing besides soda or beer in the refrigerator was orange juice." Michael did not need to explain what happened next. "Adam must have gone to hide after I called for the ambulance. I don't know why he went out their bedroom window, but his head hit a rock when he fell. They found him as they were loading Meredith into the ambulance. She was never able to look at me the same way again. I killed one of her sons and almost killed the other. You were a happy mistake four years later."

Jeannie was stunned into silence after hearing parts of her family history that she never knew existed. "I had no idea. I'm so sorry dad."

"It was the worse pain I ever felt. It takes a toll on a relationship. It takes a super solid relationship for it to survive. The group counseling your mother and I went to, every other couple there spilt up in five years. We lasted seven, but things were never the same." Michael scratched his head and stared out the window.

"Mer and his wife survived. I think they are closer than ever," she could see her father's confusion. "They lost a daughter seven years ago to SIDS. Her name was Elizabeth. She was a week shy of four months old. Then again with their work, their life has been far from normal."

He did not hear a word Jeannie had said because as he as quickly as Michael had seen Jennifer get into the car, she quickly got out, still on the phone. "I'll be right back," Michael hopped out of the car and made a bee line toward the pregnant woman.

Her father moved to quickly for Jeannie to reaction and in the haste her seatbelt jammed.

* * *

"I'm the pregnant one. I'm supposed to be having the cravings, not you," Jennifer said to her husband and motioned for Abigail to follow.

"But I did wake from an almost four month nap. I have a craving for peanut butter cups."

"You're lucky that I love you. We were already in the car," she grunted as the boys inside her did their hourly acrobatic routine. "As payment you are going to have to get your sons to calm down."

"They are yours too."

"Not when they are acting up like this. Now you can take full credit for them."

"I'll even throw in one of my massages when you get here. I'll have a nice chat with them about being mean to their mother."

A smiled caught Jennifer's lips, "You can have a whole case for that." She paused as she saw Michael standing in front of her. "Can I help you?" she moved the phone away from her.

"Oh no," Abigail shifted as he saw the strange man from earlier. "I saw him before. He told me Oreos would make me fat."

Michael did not know what to say as he panicked when he heard his son's voice on the other line. _This is a bad idea. I'm not ready to talk to him. I've heard too many stories of what he is like. He is going to cut me deep with his words._

"I have my husband on the phone. I would recommend you get out of my way," Jennifer narrowed her eyes as if she were serious.

"He is a harmless old coot, who needs a comb. Maybe we should buy him one when we go back," Abigail gave one of her most charming smirks.

"Abigail!" both parents yelled in unison.

_That is creepy when they both do it._ "It was only a suggestion," she put on an innocent act.

Jennifer was calmed when the old man did not make a move either way and thought he was just a lonely man looking for a conversation. "I ran into Jeannie at the store. She still wants to see you."

"I hope you told her that I didn't want to have anything to do with that sorry excuse of a sister. Does that bitch ever learn to take a fucking hint..." Rodney rant quickly melted into a profanity laced tirade into how Jeannie did not deserve to be a part of their lives. How she should keep her mouth shut and any decent sibling would never suggest replacing the children's mother. He also included that she was jealous that she only had the one kid while he had many more. His words were full of resentment for the woman and he wished that he never had a sister.

Michael had heard the rant that included more four letter foul words than he could count. He did not know that things were that bad between his living children and knew he would need the full story from Jeannie, especially about the part of replacing their mother. After he watched Jennifer hang up the phone, the nervous man swallowed hard, "Sorry for the intrusion. I thought you were someone else." He quickly made a hasty exit back to the car.

"See weird, but harmless," Abigail tugged at her mother's hand.


	15. Chapter 15

**Rating:** T

**Spoilers**: Season 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the characters or Stargate: Atlantis, but the McKay children are of my creation

**A/N: Please leave reviews. They are always welcome. Thanks to **Shadow for the Beta

* * *

**Chapter 15- I Want to Stay**

Michael returned to the car, kicking himself for not confronting his daughter-in-law. It was mainly the acid tongue of his son that kept him away and he needed to hear the story of what went down between the siblings to cause such a venomous rift. "You lied to me," the accusations started despite the angry looks from Jeannie.

"About what?" Jeannie was livid that he had gone to Jennifer and relieved that he did not say anything to her about who he was.

"Why did you tell Rodney that he should have replaced his children's mother? Did she do something to deserve that? Is she an unfit mother? Why would you say something like that?" he fired the questions off in rapid succession.

The frustrated woman felt like the urge to yell as loud as possible, "That is my dear brother's interpretation of what I said. He twisted my words around and used it as his basis to kick me out of his life. The situation was complicated."

"I've got all the time in the world," Michael got into the care and made himself comfortable. He knew the story had to be a good one with the way Rodney had gone off at the mere mention of Jeannie.

Jeannie got into the car and sighed, "The kind of work Mer and Jennifer do is one of those high level super-secret US military things. The kind of things you might see in a science fiction work," her non-disclosure agreement still stood and she could not say any more. "I really cannot go into much detail, but there was an accident three and half years ago and everyone thought Jennifer had died and then two years later I lightly suggested that he should start dating so that the kids could have a mother figure. Mer blew it out of proportion and tells anyone and everyone that i said to replace his wife. Jennifer returned to them a few months ago. Again another complicated story that I only got the truth from her because she is just as pissed as her husband is."

"In a way he is right and that is what you said to him in not so many words. I'm shocked that you would dare suggest a thing of that nature. You clearly don't understand what it is like to lose someone and your mother doesn't count as she was a cold hearted ice princess," he wagged his finger in disappointment.

"I didn't mean it that way. I see now I should have chosen my words more carefully, but you weren't there. Mer never handled grief well," the middle aged woman had a hard time that Michael was defending her brother; the one who abandoned their father when he was admitted to the psychiatric hospital.

"And who were you to be them judge of that? You never lost a child or a spouse. How can you know what is the right and wrong way of handling it. You were being self-righteous, just like your mother," it was harsh words to say to a child, but Michael felt they needed to be said.

"Aren't you being harsh on me, dad?" Jeannie was visibly upset by her father's preference of her brother over her. Sibling rivalry never really died. "He's the one who wanted nothing to do with you after you were committed. How can you defend him?"

"I see someone is green with envy," Michael pointed out the obvious. "I'll be the first to admit I deserve some of the treatment I got from Rodney and I can only move on from that. You asked...no told someone who was grieving to replace his wife and the mother of his children. Can you imagine what that is like? What if something had happened to Kaleb and someone suggested you do the same? And obviously she was not dead, so imagine how awkward that would have been had he listened to you."

Jeannie was beyond frustrated at this point, "You and Mer are exactly alike, twisting my words against me. I didn't tell him he had to start dating. It was a suggestion. Those two girls needed a mother figure in their life."

"Again, who are you to suggest that? Was there something wrong with the way he was them?" he pressed further.

She shook her head, "No. He adores his kids and they him."

Michael made a noise and pointed at his daughter, "Then what was the problem? And why do you keep calling him by his first name? You know he hates it."

_But you were calling him that before. _"I guess there was no problem whatsoever_,"_ Jeannie knew she was not going to get anywhere with this argument. It was better to drop it than to be told she was wrong on every point. _I was doing what I thought was best for him._

"Besides I always sided with you when you two were growing up and now it's time for a change and I'm not doing it just because. You were wrong in this and Rodney was in is every right to not want to talk to you," Michael knew she would be pissed at him, but the truth has to hurt sometimes. "Or could it be that you are upset and even a tad jealous that your brother did well on his own with his children and he did not ask from help from you and that he has the big family you wanted, but didn't have and that he is happy where you are miserable? That he has a career and family and you chose to give yours up before it started?"

_Way to twist the knife_. "Don't be ridiculous, dad. I'm not jealous and I'm not miserable. Where are you coming up these ideas? They have no basis in reality," This man was even more frustrating than her brother on his worst days. Jeannie did not want to think what it would be like if they both ganged up on her. "You make all these assumptions that Mer is happy with his life. How do you know he doesn't hate his life?"

"Your words and actions. Plus I overheard part of their conversation. Still sounding like newlyweds after almost seven years. You are too jealous. Why can't you be happy for him?" Michael wondered how far he could push before she broke.

"You can be a real asshole," Jeannie snapped. "Maybe I'm a bit jealous that my husband doesn't look at me anymore like they look at each other. He didn't even want kids and then that all changed when he met Jennifer."

"All that should matter for you is that Rodney is happy. So what he has been able to do everything that you chose not to do. I'm shocked what he has accomplished in his personal life. I had half expected to come and find the almost fifty year old virgin who was only focused on his career and I find out not only that he has a beautiful wife, but that he gave me grandchildren and more than one," he held up five fingers, one for each of his grandchildren from his son.

"Yes, Meredith has the perfect life. Is that what you wanted to hear from me? Are you happy now?" Jeannie slammed her hands down on the steering wheel. She wanted to kick the man out of her car. Why did he have to point out where her life went wrong?

"I never said it was perfect. Stop putting words into my mouth. I'm sure he had some dark times where he lost his daughter and then his wife. Those events do not happen in a perfect life. Jealousy is very unbecoming. If you are going to be a whiny brat why don't you go back to Vancouver and be with your husband and daughter. I will be fine by myself. I can get an apartment and a job and live here. I will talk to my son on my own time," Michael frowned at his daughter.

"You aren't cleared to work here," Jeannie had to burst his bubble. There was no way she was going to leave him alone in what was a strange place to him.

"Then you just have to pay for an apartment for me. It's as easy as that. Some spending money would be helpful too," the father said as if there was no room for argument. "I don't want to go back to Vancouver with you."

"I'm not leaving you here alone. You have to come back with me," the daughter sighed. Her father was being as stubborn as her own daughter.

"According to my doctors i am of sound mind to make my own decisions. I want to stay here and talk to my son and I'm not going anywhere until i do that," Michael had his mind made up and nothing was going to change it.

"You are like a five year old, do you know that?" Jeannie was growing tired of the behavior.

"I'm just stubborn and won't give up on what I want. If you are so insistent on me not being alone then you are going to have to stay here," the old man stood his ground.

Jeannie knew from years of dealing with her brother sometimes it was just easier to give in. "Fine, but we have to go to Vancouver first so I can discuss this with Kaleb."

Michael was very pleased that he had got his way.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Thank you to all those who have followed this story, but it had to come to an end. It was a great ride while it lasted. And thank you to Shadows-of-Realm for his awesome beta work on this story.

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**Chapter 16- New Beginnings**

It was a cold January night and a heavy snow was falling outside. Since Rodney's release from the hospital four months ago, the family concentrated on being a family and preparing for the twins that were to arrive any day now. Their father had made a speedy recovery that stunned everyone, but having three kids and a wife pregnant with twins did not leave much time to lay around with a long recovery.

Jennifer sat in bed rubbing her very swollen belly. "Just don't pick tonight to come out you two," the pregnant woman sighed as she looked at the storm raging outside. She was glad to be home in a warm bed and soon to be joined by her husband who was making his last rounds after putting their children to bed. The mother several times over winced as she felt a sharp pain. "How do you boys have room to move in there?" She pulled the blankets closer as she waited for Rodney to return to their room.

"All the little devils are tucked in for the night and hoping for a snow day tomorrow," Rodney yawned as he entered the room. "I'm getting too old for this," he pouted as he plopped on the bed. "Are you sure we are ready for all this again? The midnight feedings and all the diapers. Times two."

The woman rolled her eyes at her husband, "It's a little too late." Jennifer pointed to her stomach. "Your boys are set to make an appearance any day now," she knew he was kidding, but she also knew his energy level was not near what it was before his accident. "You feeling okay, sexy?" she cupped his cheek with her hand.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Rodney asked as he sat behind his wife. "You are the one carrying around two watermelons...well four if you count those," he pointed to Jennifer's breasts, which had grown considerably through her pregnancy.

"You are lucky you I love you or I would have to hit you for that comment," Jennifer slid back slightly so she was nestled comfortably between Rodney's legs and her head on his chest.

He let out a contented sigh, still amazed that having Jennifer back in his life was real. Some days he expected to wake up and find himself a widowed single father of three children. "But they've gotten so huge. It was never like that before." Rodney pressed his lips against her shoulder blade.

"Keep up the breast comments and you will be sleeping on the couch," her eyes closed at the electric sensation that his lips and the stubble on his face caused on her bare skin. A change in subject was in order but her mind became fuzzy as Jennifer felt more than her husband's lips move to her neck. "How can you still think of that?" her breath hitched as his tongue made small circles on her neck. She had felt ugly and disgusting the last month and Rodney was erasing those thoughts with his mouth and the slight moan said he was doing a good job.

After the moan Rodney stopped, "What? I can't make out with my beautiful wife? Once the boys are born we are going to have no time to ourselves and I think we should try to get in all the time we can?"

Jennifer smiled, knowing he had a point. "If you put it that way, there is not much I can do with you behind me," a wicked grin spread across her face as she wiggled against his lap. "Except that," she said with a big smirk.

He groaned and closed his eyes at being teased, "Don't start something you cannot finish."

"I'm all for finishing it if you can find a way for us to actually start it. You're the physics genius," she tempted him further by pulling at his sweatpants.

"What does physics have to do with that?" Rodney was confused.

"Don't ruin..." Jennifer did not get to finish the thought as she was hit with a strong contraction. "Hell no. Not now."

The man's face went pale, "You are kidding me, right?" There was no way these boys were coming with the storm that was outside.

"I don't know," she hoped it was not the start of her going into labor. "There it's gone," Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief as the pain subsided.

"Are you sure you are okay?" Rodney moved so he was sitting in front of Jennifer.

The very pregnant woman nodded, "Just fine." She reached out and touched his face. "Sometimes I wonder if this is all a dream and I'll wake up and you will be still in that hospital bed."

The physicist leaned his face against her hand, "I've been thinking the same thing. I don't want to take up and find out you are still dead. I would not be able to handle that again."

"That is not going to happen," Jennifer reassured her husband. Even after all these months she could not fathom what he had been through, thinking her dead for over three years. "I'm not going anywhere," she drew him in for a kiss. "Except maybe the bathroom," Jennifer jumped out of bed as fast as her stomach would allow.

"How many times did you use the bathroom when I was putting the kids to bed?" Rodney tried not to laugh.

"Don't even go there, darling," Jennifer pointed and shook her head.

"Why won't you answer me?" the man appeared at the open door of the bathroom. "Four times? Maybe five?" Rodney was did not hold back the laughter.

"Such a comedian you think you are," the woman frowned. "And I'll have you know it was only twice. Now help me up," Jennifer struggled to get up.

"Here," he offered his hands to assist his wife.

"Thank you," she pulled herself up and as a thank you, Jennifer kissed Rodney's cheek.

"Anytime," the scientist excused himself from the bathroom to watch the fierce storm from the bedroom window.

"It's really bad out there, but it is so pretty watching from here," she leaned against her husband'" chest, wrapping his arms securely around her.

Rodney nodded in agreement, "Perfect night for holding the one you love close."

Jennifer felt goose bumps raise on her skin as the words rang in her ears. For the first time in a long time, it felt as if everything was going to be alright and their life was on track to be what it was always meant to be. "Exactly," her head turned to look out the window. "You know we haven't picked names for the boys."

"What about Bruce and Clark?" he suggested with a mischievous grin.

Jennifer groaned inwardly, "As in Wayne and Kent. Think again my one true geek. Nice try, though."

Rodney pouted, "It was worth a shot. How about Thing One and Thing Two?"

"What am I going to do with you?"

"Lock me up and throw away the key?" he laughed as his finger drew circles around Jennifer's stomach.

The laughter was contagious, "That doesn't sound like a bad idea. All the things I could do to you." Jennifer's expression had naughty implications.

"Care to share some of those thoughts?" Rodney raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Use your imagination and past experience," the grinning woman placed her hands over Rodney's, lacing her fingers with his.

"I knew there was a reason I married you."

"You mean for the great sex?"

"That's a small part of it," Rodney pressed his lips against his wife's neck. "Back to names for the boys."

"If we must," Jennifer teased. She paused and pursed her lips, not sure how he was going to take what she was about to take her suggestion. "How about Michael?"

The father frowned at the mention of the name, "Why would we do that? Is that your way to ask if I talked to _him?_" Rodney did not want to talk about his own father. "I don't want to think about him. No negative thoughts. Only good thoughts and how soon we will have five children ruling over us."

"How about naming one of them after Radek?" Jennifer suggested.

"And have Abigail torture him endlessly? That wouldn't be right. "We can't name another one after John and we already established that we are not naming them after me," he felt the need to give that reminder. "You we really have to name them after someone. We can randomly pick names from a baby name book."

"So they can end up with names like Percival and Albus," she shook her head.

"You've been reading Harry Potter again, haven't you? What about Carlisle or Emmett," the physicist teased.

"And someone has been reading Twilight," Jennifer thought that two could play this game. "Does my husband have a thing for sparkly vampires?"

Rodney blushed, "Quiet, you. Christopher?" He threw out one suggestion. It was a simple name and not one the boy would be made fun of.

"Christopher is nice. Chris for short," she agreed. One name was done and they had one to go. "How about Adam?" The stubborn man might have refused to talk about his father and sister, but she was not sure where he stood on the brother he did not remember until Michael told him about it.

That was a tough decision to make and Rodney thought on it for several minutes, "Okay. That would be nice." A nice tribute to someone he had only started to remember in flashes since being told about his twin.

As if almost on cue that once names were settled on, Jennifer's water broke.

* * *

Seven hours later the veteran parents were holding their newborn sons. "They are just perfect," Rodney cooed at Adam in his arms.

"I know," Jennifer lightly rocked Christopher. All the months of feeling disgusting and looking like a cow disappeared the moment the boys were placed in her arms. She knew the two boys were their chance at a fresh start. No more pain and heartache. It was the start of their happily ever after getting back on track after many detours in the last seven years.

"I love you, Jennifer McKay."

"I love you, Rodney McKay."

The couple then sealed their future with a sweet kiss.

**The End**


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